Black Planet
by MandoGirl22
Summary: The Black Planet was a sign to anyone that was planning to betray or anger the Faberian Empire to do so means instant death for the people and the planet. OCs and canon characters. Jay and Vhetin belong belong to a friend of mine and Corey Black belongs to Corey.
1. Chapter 1

Page | **4**

Ch. 1

Kestra walked down the ramp of the _Ka'rta Tor_, a _Dynamic_-class freighter that had been in her family for a long time. She placed her hands on her hips and looked around Nal Hutta, grimacing when she breathed in the smelly and polluted air. It's been a week since she had left Mandalore after the Imperials ransacked her home looking for her, now her _Ba'vodu_ was dead and the handmaidens were missing and everyone thought they were dead. Kestra was here to be sure that they were dead and she needed make sure that they weren't here. Kestra was wearing a gray flight suit with padding on her torso and armor on her arms and legs.

_Though I can't see them being here but I have to make sure being that they had come here a lot too._

Kestra can sense her ancestor, Marrika Nerys, standing behind her and without turning around to look at him, she said, "This shouldn't take long."

Kestra raised her hood as she began walking down the walk way and as she passed a group of Trandoshans, she saw that they had a male Wookiee and he had a slave collar around his neck, Kestra reacted on instinct towards the sight, she like all Faberians had been taught at birth that slavery is something that cowardly people use when they can't fight against others. She ran towards then and in a flurry of kicks, punches and spins, they were all on the ground either dazed or out cold. Kestra turned and looked up at the male Wookiee; he was covered with a uniform of mid-length coat of thick hair in various shades of black and gray.

"Are you okay?" Kestra asked him, she really had to crane her neck back in order to look up at him.

He made a sound halfway between a bark and a snarl. "No problem, do you have a name?"

He moaned, shaking his head. "No name, uh? Well, how about Shuk'orok?"

He cocked his head and moaned again. "It means 'crushgaunt' in _Mando'a_; it's a sort of gauntlet."

He purred, which meant he liked it so she didn't need to respond, luckily she can understand Shyriiwook which was one of many languages that Ranek and the others had taught her. Kestra felt a ping of pain when she thought of the handmaidens, she missed them so much but she had to do this, she had to make sure that their dead and not doing anything stupid like going after the traitor.

Kestra looked at her new 'friend' and said, "Do you need any credits to go back to Kashyyyk?"

He growled low in his throat. "I see…so I saved your life and you owe me a life debt? Hmm, can you pilot a ship?"

He growled low in his throat again. "Good, though I doubt that even if you couldn't you'll come with me anyways, eh?"

He moaned. "Good to know that. Now you can either go to my ship or come with me."

He made a sound that was half way between a snarl and a moan. "Fine, but please try not to rip people's arms off." And with that she turned on her heel and began to walk away, but she didn't get far before she was nearly plowed over by a _Mando'ade_ in red _beskar'gam_, luckily Shuk'orok caught her before she made friends with the pavement and by the looks of the pavement, she could that they didn't clean it…at all.

"Thanks, Shuk'orok." Kestra said while Shuk'orok purred at her then snarled at the _Mando'ade_. She could see that Shuk'orok was going to be extremely protective of her, which was okay with her because if she was going to get ran over by crazy _Mando'ade_ then she's going to need all the help she can get. And she just realized just how much _beskar'gam_ hurt when you weren't wearing it; she just knew that she was going to have a bruise later.

Surprisingly the _Mando'ade_ understood him because he said, "Look, fuzz ball. I didn't see her walking there because I was too busy running from my new pals." And he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at a group of men in weird looking armor that was running towards them. His voice sounded menacing, coming from his helmet's vocoder though Kestra was used to it because she lived on Mandalore and everyone wore their _beskar'gam_, which reminded her of her own _beskar'gam_ that was stashed under her bunk. Kestra sighed and shook her head, this day just kept getting better and better she _almost_ couldn't _yet_ to see what tomorrow would bring her.

"Fierfeks, what is it 'debts day' and no one even bothered to tell me?" Kestra said as she pulled out her personalized BlasTech LL-30 blaster pistols and started firing. She looks at the Wookiee and the _Mando'ade_ over her shoulder and shouted "Go! Run to hangar A-10"

Both Wookiee and Mando'ade turned and ran off as Kestra fired a few shots then spun around and ran after them, she pulled out her comlink and said, "HK-28! There's been a change of plans! Prep _Huntress_ for quick evac!"

"Response: Yes, Master," said the cold metallic voice of her HK-series assassin droid, HK-28. He and two other droids, T3-M7, a T3-series utility droid and 3C-CD, a 3C-series utility droid were the only three non-organic things on _Ka'rta Tor_. And like the _Ka'rta Tor _had been in the family for a _very_ long time.

"Go to the _Dynamic_-class freighter! Shift it, people!" Kestra shouted as she turns around and fires a few potshots at the pursing group. Then she ran up the ramp hot on the heels of the other two.

"Outta my way!" Kestra said as she quickly darted past the two and ran to the cockpit and pulled up the steering yokes hard and the ship lifted up and shot out of Nal Hutta. Shuk'orok sat down in copilot seat as the _Mando'ade_ sat in the navigator seat. Kestra pulled up the galaxy map then typed in 'Tatooine' then pushed another button to go into hyperspace. And as the ship got ready to make the jump to hyperspace, she looked over her shoulder at the _Mando'ade_ and asked, "You got a name or am I going to have to name you too."

"Nope, my name is Ge'tal Gra'tua." He said as he took off his helmet, she inclines her head towards him then turns around. She didn't bother to give him a closer look but she did see that he had tribal tattoos on his forehead and most likely had them on the rest of his body, though she would get a better look after they jump into hyperspace. As for right now thought, she had to get out of Hutt space ASAP then she'll ask Ge'tal just why he was being chased by what was clearly bodyguards that belonged to a Hutt, not that she was going to send him back and nor did she care, but if it will help to know why and if she wanted him to become a member of her crew.

"My name is Kestra Hett; we'll discuss pleasantries after we make the jump into hyperspace." Kestra said, as the _Ka'rta Tor_ made the jump into hyperspace. Once they did, she spun around in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest and said, "So why were you being chased by a Hutt's bodyguard?"

Ge'tal sighed and said, "I apparently insulted the Hutt."

Kestra cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Which Hutt? Jabba?"

"No, Jobo the Hutt." He said, with a light chuckle. Kestra heard about Jobo the Hutt, who was very well known for taking everything as an insult, you even looked at him funny he'll take it as an insult. Kestra sighed and asked, "So are you any good at fixing ships then you are at insulting a Hutt?"

She didn't need to ask him how he insulted Jobo the Hutt, if the stories the Ori had told her were true then it was probably something very stupid. Ge'tal looked at her and said, "Yes, why?"

"Well, I have a copilot now," she said, jerking her thumb towards Shuk'orok, "and all I need now is a mechanic. I can fix anything just fine but I can't be piloting _and_ fixing whatever is broken at the same time so I need a mechanic which leads me to another question...are you willing to stay aboard and become my mechanic?"

"Exactly what are you going to be doing? So I can know what I am getting myself into before I agree." Ge'tal said, leaning back in his chair. Kestra shrugged and said, "Sure, I am going to be Bounty Hunter hence why there were force cages in the hull and the ships name the _Ka'rta Tor_."

Ge'tal nods then says, "What the hell, I got nothing better to do so I'll become your mechanic."

Now that she got a better look of him, she saw that he wasn't any older than she was by probably a few years, and he had black hair, which is rather messy and spiked up and green eyes. Kestra held out her hand and said, "Then welcome aboard the _Ka'rta Tor_. You already met my new copilot, Shuk'orok who I had just hired as well and soon you'll meet my three droids who should be powering down for right now."

Ge'tal stood up and stretched saying, "Alright, is there anywhere I can sleep at?"

Kestra turns her seat around and said, "Sure, pick any room that isn't locked."

Ge'tal beings to leave but stops and says, "Thanks for helping me out back there at Nal Hutta."

"No problem but you better pay me back by keeping _Ka'rta Tor_ in tip top shape otherwise I'm going to dump your sorry _shebs_ on Tatooine." Kestra said with a smirk at him. Ge'tal laughed at that and walked out of the cockpit, Kestra looked at Shuk'orok and said, "You should get some sleep as well, Shuk'orok. I'll take care of everything here."

Shuk'orok growled. "I'll be fine! Go on, get some sleep."

Shuk'orok stood up and walked out of the cockpit and as soon his footsteps could no longer be heard, Darth Bane made his appearance and said, "What happened?"

"There was a change of plans, once everything cools down at Nal Hutta we'll go back." Kestra said, leaning back in her chair and lacing her hands behind her head. She was no longer bothered that she could see and talk to her dead Sith ancestor, in fact she found him very interesting. Darth Bane had already made it clear that he was only to appear when she needed him or to tell her something other than that he wasn't going to be there which was fine with her.

"Is there anything that you need to tell me?" Kestra asked when he didn't respond. Darth Bane looked at her and said, "Only the strongest could survive."

Kestra sighed heavily at that and said, "Yes, so you have been telling me since I left Mandalore."

"So why help the weak?" Darth Bane asked her, though she couldn't tell if he was asking that because he was confused or if it was some kind of test so she answered him as best as she can. "I do believe that the strongest survive, but the Wookiee and the _Mando'ade_ are not weak, they are strong otherwise they would either be killed or caught."

Darth Bane just looked at her and then nodded, saying "If you believe that then so be it but remember what I have been teaching you." And with that he disappeared, Kestra leaned her head back against her chair and sighed again.

_Only the strongest could survive._

She knew that, and she believed that but it's human nature to be with others though she knew that in order to get stronger that she will have to challenges that met her needs and that's why she had chosen to do Bounty Hunting because it will challenge her to get stronger so that she can protect the people that mean everything to her better than she could have done before.

_Only the strongest could survive…I understand and I will be stronger so that I won't be helpless ever again._

So Kestra was going to learn from her Sith ancestor because he would understand what she is going there because he had gone there it a millennium before her. Kestra leaned back further and closed her eyes, if there were any Jedi still around they would have said that she was traveling down a path to the Dark side but to Faberians there is no such thing as the Dark and Light side of the Force, there is just the Force.

_Only the strongest could survive, that is the way that the galaxy is now. The strongest survive while the weak die and I plan to be the strongest person out there because I am a survivor._


	2. Chapter 2

Page | **4**

Ch. 2

_Five years later._

Kestra sat in the middle of her force cage, watching the slavers walk around the hull of their smelly ship, it's been three days since she had been captured and she was being taken to Nar Shaddaa. Her armor had been taken as soon as she was captured then she forced into her new 'clothes', she now wears the outfit of a slave girl which consists of a black bikini top with a matching belt and skirt with two sides slits which expose the entire her leg, up to her hip. The top, belt and skirt are decorated with silver coins and beads. She wore a black choker collar decorated with silver coins and beads. The collar had a loop extension where a chain could be attached. She also had black strapped sandals. Also her hands were shackled behind her back. The slaving collar that attacked by a chain to the floor and the chain wasn't very long so she had to keep her head bowed in a submissive gesture which made her clench her back teeth in anger but the slavers couldn't see her expression because of her hair, which was not braided as she usually had and was free and covered her face with a black curtain.

"So how's our sweet little captive doing?" said a voice, she knew who it belonged it. Crispin Ryan was a very well-known and despised slaver, and he had always wanted to get his hands on a Faberian for a very long time because Faberian slaves were held in high demand as much as female Twi'lek slaves and were considered especially attractive but Faberians were in much higher in demand because they are very good warriors. Kestra turned her head slightly so that she can fix Crispin with a glare.

"Now, now Breeder. Don't be angry at me because it's my fault that your species are such attractive women, probably more so than Twi'lek females. And you may be by far the most attractive Faberian woman that I had ever seen."

Kestra didn't respond to the racial term for Faberians, like Ori had said, Kestra had gotten used to it. Crispin racked a slow and lecherous stare over her body and smiled lasciviously which Kestra ignored at well, she was used to that also. She had left behind the skinny and bony girl that she was when she had left Mandalore and became what all the Faberian had become well-known for, Kestra was considered especially attractive by male standards and has a slender yet toned build but she already knew all this because her _Mando'ade_ mechanic, Ge'tal Gra'tua, kept flirting and trying to sleep with her.

"You will have us set for life once we sell you to a Hutt on Nar Shaddaa, Breeder." Crispin continued on, not at least afraid or imitated by her cold stare which he was either _di'kutla_ or _or'dinii_ and she willing to bet on both. Kestra sighs and said, "You do realize just how long Faberians stay in captivity, right?"

Crispin snorted and crossed his meaty arms over his chest and said, "Yeah, only for a few days but we're gonna make sure that you stay, Breeder."

Kestra rolled her eyes but didn't bother to reply. That was what the last slaver said before she snapped his neck with the Force but she wasn't even going to waste it on, in fact she needed to go Nar Shaddaa anyways since her bounty was there. And from what she had heard from the other slavers, Jabba the Hutt had been wanting a Faberian slave so they were taking her to him but what they didn't know was that Jabba was not going to be happy at all with his new 'pet' Jabba tolerated her because she was pretty and that was one of the main reasons why she wasn't too worried about. Crispin had left because they were going out of hyperspace and he needed to fly the ship down to one Jabba's private landing pads. So Kestra turned her head back down and began to think back how she was captured.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Kestra was walking down a dark alley way with her personalized BlasTech LL-30 blaster pistols out and held up at shoulder height_. _Her force senses were telling her that her bounty was just in front of her, in a dumpster. Kestra scowled in distaste on his choice of hiding place but before she can capture him there was a flash of bright light and before she could have done anything she was shocked from behind by something and had collapsed, twitching and she saw Crispin and his ugly crew of slavers stand over her._

"_Just like he said she would be at." Crispin said, with a smirk._

"_Yeah but are you sure, boss? She went down pretty easy." Said one of his goons. Crispin sneered at him and said, "The staff has an electricity setting that would have killed a normal human but as you can see she's still breathing so she's the Faberian Bounty Hunter that he told us about."_

_Kestra knew that she had been betrayed again and probably by the same person that betrayed her five standard years ago and when she finds that _aruetycate chakaar_ she was going to _kriffing_ kill him. And that was the last thing she thought before she blacked out._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kestra knew that the handmaidens were dead; there was no way that they can be alive without making any contact with her after a month had gone by so that all she needed to know that they were dead. Some could say that Faberians have a sort of a Hive mind but with the Force and it had deadly and dangerous twist: they need stay in contact with each other otherwise they'll lose their sanity. And an insane Faberian is much more dangerous than a sane Faberian. Kestra sighs and shifts, trying to get more comfortable but being that she was stuck in a kneeling position and that chain was short she really couldn't move as much. She felt a hard jolt as it as it landed which jerked hard on her chain, choking her and caused her to cough.

_I am so going to enjoy killing you, Crispin._

As the ramp went down her force cage turned off, one of his men walked over as a couple pointed their blasters towards her. He unclipped her chain and jerked it up, so that she has no choice but to stand. "Jabba is most eager to see his new 'pet', Breeder." Crispin said with a smirk and this time Kestra couldn't help but to smirk and say, "Oh, I agree as well, _chakaar_."

And then she was lead into Jabba's palace on Nar Shaddaa, a droid met them just outside Jabba's throne room. "Jabba is waiting for you." The droid said and Crispin strutted into the throne room when the doors opened.

"Oh, Great and Powerful Jabba! I had brought you the Faberian that you had wanted!" Crispin said as he pushed Kestra forward. The throne room went so quiet that Kestra could have sworn that could have heard a pin drop then Jabba drew himself to his full height and roared in Huttese, and luckily Huttese was another language that Kestra knew, "Is this some kind of joke!? Why is one of my Bounty Hunters before me in the outfit of a slave?!"

Crispin started to stutter, "B-b-but Great Jabba, we didn't know that she was held in such high regard by you."

Jabba scoffs and in Huttese said, "Ridiculous, she's always been at my side when I had my meetings and she was here when you came last time, Crispin."

Crispin turned to look at her closely and Kestra watched as his eyes widen as he realized his mistake and Kestra's smirk widened and she said, "You really _shabla_ this time, _di'kut_."

"Now I want that collar off of her and bring back her equipment!" Jabba roared in Huttese. One of Crispin's men took off her collar while the other one handed her equipment back to her which she took and went to one of the side rooms to change. Kestra took off the slave outfit which she was going to keep, never knew when it might come in handy again. She slips into back into her form-fitting black flight suit, she carried a pair of personalized BlasTech LL-30 blaster pistols—which she capped with silencers when necessary—and wore a set of scuffed nerf-hide quick-draw holsters to hold them at her waist, that she was known to wield with deadly accuracy as well as a EE-3 carbine blaster rifle which she kept slung across her back next to her jetpack. Her Faberian lightsaber was clipped in the front of her belt. After she was dressed, she walked out and stood next to Jabba. "Hey, Jabba wears Crispin and his smelly friends?" Kestra asked, noticing that they were gone.

Jabba looked at her and said in Huttese, "I let Crispin go but had feed some of his men to my pets." So that explained the screaming, Jabba was someone you didn't want to make mad which why Kestra watched what she said to him...sometimes.

"I see..." Kestra said which she did…all over the kriffing place. Ugh, some of his 'pets' were very messy eaters. Jabba sighed and said in Huttese, "Your crew came here with the bounty that you were sent on which made me wonder why you weren't with them but now I know why."

"Yeah, well I wasn't too happy about getting shocked and I wanted to kill that _chakaar_ for that." Kestra said, Jabba knew that Kestra had a 'don't get mad, get even' mindset though sadly that mindset wasn't extended towards any Imperials, former or otherwise. Kestra hated them equally because they had taken _everything_ from her and she wanted to return the favor by taking everything from them. Which she was doing by smuggling weapons to the people that shared the same feelings that she had for the Imps. She hears a _twirl_ing sound coming from behind her; she turned and saw her pet Jha'dur, Jax standing behind her. Jha'durs are canines with black fur all over their bodies. They had extremely sharp teeth that ran along the length of their snout, with four fangs protruding over their lower lip, each ending in a double point. And they have a long whiplike tails. Their claws are 5 inches long and are very sharp. Jha'durs can only be found on Faber and if you see one off planet that means it's with its Faberian master.

Kestra kneeled down and patted Jax's head, saying "Sorry, _cyar'ika_ but some bad men got the jump on me and put me in a nasty collar and even nastier outfit." Jax _twrr_ed again, Kestra stood up and turned to Jabba, saying, "Thanks for watching Jax for me."

Jabba waved his hand dismissively and said, "No thanks required but I must say that I am surprised that you didn't take him with you."

Kestra shrugged and said, "Stupid mistake that I will never make ever again for as long as I live."

"It's a shame that I don't have a Faberian slave." Jabba asked wistfully in Huttese. Kestra sighed and said, "Yeah, I am awfully sorry about that." Of course, Kestra was being a little sarcastic when she said that but Jabba knew better that to take her on as a slave, this has been Kestra's third time being captured by slavers and when she had escaped she had gone after the slavers that had captured her and her 'master'. Faberians, as a rule, bow down for no one and they don't take captivity very well either and Kestra wasn't any different from any of the other Faberians.

"Is my crew still here?" Kestra asked moving to stand next to Jabba. Jabba rumbled then said in Huttese, "Yes, they are."

Kestra sighs and said, "_Vor entye_, Jabba. I have to be reunited with my crew or else HK-28 will kill them." Which wasn't a lie; HK-28 had no tolerance for any other meat-bags other than Kestra. Jabba leaned back in his couch and said in Huttese, "Go, I'll contact you when I have any more bounties for you."

Kestra bowed and turned and walked away, smiling a little she noticed Boba Fett standing at the corner of the throne room and nodded slightly in greeting which he returned. This was a bit surprising considering their rivalry. Kestra may be some new rookie bounty hunter that Jabba tolerates because she's pretty but she's well on her way to become a very good bounty hunter and it's because of that reason that there's some tension between the two bounty hunters and it also gives her a card to play on Jabba that even Fett can't use. Kestra may not like to use her looks to get what she wants but she isn't above using her looks when she does need them.

_Being pretty certainly does have it perks though._

Being that to Prince Xizor, she is his 'favorite' Bounty Hunter because of her looks, he was also enamored of her because she was pretty and of her skills but not that Kestra would even think of getting into a relationship with the Falleen Prince, she has a strict 'No dating your employers' policy that she always followed. Though it was sort of amusing and flattering that he sends her gifts and stuff in order to win her over. Luckily for Kestra, his pheromones don't work on her so she can resist his seduction techniques because she has a very strong mind. Kestra really needed to get back to the _Ka'rta Tor_; she wasn't worried about her though. She was worried about her freighter and had to make sure the ol' girl was still in one piece being that she was all that Kestra had left of her _Ba'vodu_.

_If she's missing anything I am going to hurt Ge'tal._

Kestra was walking down a hallway in Jabba's palace and he a lot of hallways, she was minding her own business until she heard a _psst-_ing sound coming from behind her and she turned and saw a Twi'lek female in very skimpy clothes that caused even Kestra to turn red standing in a doorway.

"Are you a Bounty hunter?" the Twi'lek asked, staring at her armor. Kestra blinked then said, "Yes?"

Twi'lek then smiled and asked, "Then do you know Cin Vhetin?"

Now that question was met with a blank stare that name sounded familiar but she couldn't remember who it was, "Who?"

"Cin Vhetin! He's a bounty hunter like you and he wears black armor with white strips!" the Twi'lek said, annoyed. A _Mando'ade_ in _ne'tra_ _beskar'gam_ named Cin Vhetin, uh? That name did sound familiar and then she remembered that she did know who it was and said snapping her fingers, "Ah! _Ci'ika_!" Kestra said, she was very bad at names and can only remember them if she saw their faces but Cin Vhetin was a special case because they were basically raised together. Kestra has what some would call a trust issue; it's hard to trust anyone when she had been betrayed twice. That and she sensed something in him that reached out to her, though if that was a perk for being a force-sensitive she wasn't sure at times because no one liked force-sensitives and they didn't like Faberians anymore than they liked Jedi because of that little problem not that Kestra cared, she had better things to do than to get people to become her _vod'ika_.

"Why do you want to know though?" Kestra asked now curious but she had a feeling that she knew why. And boy, she wasn't wrong at all nor was she disappointed either, the Twi'lek batted her eyelashes and blushed prettily which only made Kestra roll her eyes, saying "All the girls miss him and were wondering when he was coming back."

Kestra blinked then roared with laughter, she was still laughing as she walked away. Who would have known that ice-cold Cin Vhetin would have _cyar'tomade_? Oh, she was so going to enjoy teasing him with this little information and she was going to enjoy it _a lot_.


	3. Chapter 3

Page | **6**

Ch. 3

Kestra had finally arrived to her freight without any problems though some women did give her dirty looks because their husbands and/or boyfriends had checked her out as she walked passed them. This wasn't new to Kestra because, once again, she was used to it. Kestra walked up the ramp and immediately went to her room so that she can change and put her new 'outfit' in the hidden compartment under her bunk where she also kept her armor when she was not wearing it. Kestra keyed the password in the control panel and it slid open with a soft hiss, Kestra walked in and it closed softly behind her. Kestra pulled up her bunk and placed the slave outfit inside. Kestra walked out of her room and headed to the med center to see their onboard Doctor, Jann Hrathgar.

"Hey, Doc you got a minute?" Kestra asked, putting her left arm up on the doorframe and assuming a casual posture. Jann Hrathgar looked up from his desk and smiled at her, standing up and walking towards. Jann was another stray that Kestra had found and saved, he was a man that had a slightly muscular and willowy frame. His hair is neck-length, straight and parted to the right side of his face, and has slight reddish tinged to the color. He wore the typical outfit of a Doctor which consists of a white lab coat, a red long sleeve shirt and black pants tucked into black boots. "Kestra! I am so happy and relieved that you're back!" Jann said giving her a one shoulder hug.

Kestra laughed and said, "Yeah, well Jabba didn't want me anymore." Jann laughs at that and says, "I find that hard to believe. Now if you're done making cracks I want you to strip to your undergarments so I can the amount of damage our 'friends' did to you."

Kestra shrugged, she walked in and locked the door behind her. Kestra walked to the cot and began to strip down until she was standing in her undergarments. She sat down on the cot, as Jann walked over to her started to check her for any signs of trauma. Kestra's tanned skin had a healthy and vibrant look to it, and she didn't look under feed as he can still see her muscles. The only injury that can see was a collar shaped bruise around her throat but other than that she was fine.

"You're good, you can get dressed now." Jann said, stepping away from her. Kestra slid off the cot and quickly redressed. Then she left to go to the cockpit, when she got there she was nearly suffocated by an overly worried and panicked, Shuk'orok. And there was nothing like getting almost suffocated by your Wookiee Copilot. Ge'tal was siting the pilot seat with his hands laced behind his head and a smirk on his face. Shuk'orok finally set her down and growled. "Yeah, well how was I supposed to know that Crispin and his choir boys would know that I was there?"

Ge'tal raised an eyebrow and asked, "You think it's that same _chakaar_ that betrayed you?"

Kestra only nods her head and nudges Ge'tal out of the pilot seat with her foot, he stands up grumbling and she sits down and started pushing button, "Hey, Shuk'orok do I have any messages?"

Shuk'orok looked at her and moaned. "I got a message from Prince Xizor?"

Ge'tal leaned against the back of her chair and said, "Yep and he was really keen that you come to his palace on Coruscant ASAP."

Kestra frowned then shrugged, while it wasn't a surprise that he had requested her appearance at his palace but that he wants her there as soon as possible was certainly surprising. So she punched Coruscant's coordinates into the navicomputer and waited while the _Ka'rta Tor_ prepared to make the jump into hyperspace. When the light turned green, she pulled the lever back and watched the stars streaked by in white long lines.

The _Ka'rta Tor_ came out of hyperspace when they arrived at Coruscant or 'Imperial City' as Slimy Palps called it. She had a slight problem with Coruscant Air Control but they quickly changed their tune when they realized who she was and she had clearance to land because she had approval of both Prince Xizor _and_ Emperor Palpatine who also had hired her before and had never realized that she is the Faberian that he had been looking for, to outsiders Faberians all looked the same but they did have different shades of brown eyes, like light brown, brown and dark brown. But people like Palpatine don't really pay attention to details; all he sees is another planet to conquer.

_Luckily for me that he never saw me as a kid._

She flew down into Coruscant, while some people saw awe and beauty all Kestra saw was evil and ugliness. The Empire took everything from her, in order to find and control her. But Palps never counted on the intense loyalty of a Faberian. All Faberians have very intense loyalties- either they would die for you, or you would end up dead, it was simple as that. A few minutes later, she landed on a landing platform at Xizor's palace and told her crew as the ramp lowered, "You stay here. Xizor doesn't like it when I bring strangers, especially _male_ strangers."

Ge'tal crossed his arms over his chest and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yep, besides Xizor won't do anything to me so don't worry." Kestra said with a wink and a smirk then walked down that ramp. Of course, his guards were there to 'escort' her to his office…like she needed them being that she had been here numerous times but she'll humor them. They didn't even bother to try to take her guns; it was nice to know that some goons could be trainable and just after getting their _shebs_ handed to them on a silver platter the last time they tried to make her give up her weapons. Besides, she made it a habit not to shot her employers unless they betray her and Xizor was too attracted to her to do something as stupid as that. Her 'escort' and she arrived just outside of Xizor's sanctum before leaving; Kestra opened the door and walked in closing it behind her. Xizor rose from one of the couches and smiled at her.

"Kestra, my dear. How good is it to see you again." Xizor said while walking around the desk and towards her, he placed his hands on her shoulders and placed a chaste kiss on the corner of her lips. Sometimes he did kiss her fully on the lips but other times he'll kiss the corner of her lips. Xizor wrapped an arm around her shoulder and lead her to one of the couches; Kestra sat down at one end of the couch while he sat down the other side which was okay with her.

"Can I interest you in some refreshments, my dear? Luranian Brandy? Green Champagne?" Xizor asked to which she shook her head to, yeah Faberians may have a very high metabolism and never get drunk…no matter what kind of alcohol it is but Kestra avoided drinking anything alcoholic if it was possible. "Let's just stick to why you called me here on such short notice, Your Highness."

Xizor smiled at that, Kestra always went straight to the point whenever she did business with him and not fall for his…advances…towards her that was probably one of reasons why he liked her so much. That and she were ruthless when it comes to chasing her bounties. She had always reminded him of an exotic hunting animal, she was as lethal as she was pretty.

"Of course, my dear, you see, someone had stolen a very rare, and valuable, jewel from me and I want it back and I want the man that stole it dead."

Kestra looked him and raised an eyebrow, but this wasn't a surprise to her Xizor uses her as his personal Bounty Hunter and an assassin. Though that didn't mean that she always did the jobs him asked her to do willingly and obediently, "Why can't Guri do this?"

Xizor favored her with his sexist smile, which grew wider at the blush that spread over her cheeks; it contrasted nicely with her skin color. "What if I told you that this man was also the one people that helped the Empire kill your family?" Xizor said looking at her; he can see her whole body tense at that. Yes, Xizor knew all about her little quest for vengeance against the Empire and he also knew who she was. Kestra was the Faberian Empress Regnant that the Emperor was looking so hard for and never realized that she had been in the same room as him on numerous occasions. Though Xizor would never betray her to the Emperor nor would he tell her that he knew who she really was, Kestra had made it clear numerous times that she trusted no one that worked with or for the Empire.

"What do you mean?" Kestra asked through clenched teeth, her whole frame was tense and shaking with barely concealed rage and excitement. Rage for the Empire that had killed everyone that was important to her and excitement because she had finally found one of the people that were responsible for their deaths. Xizor leaned back casually and said, "You know exactly what I mean since it was you that had told me as soon as you started to work for me that you hated the Empire for taking _everything_ from you."

Kestra pursed her lips together, well that was true she did tell him that she hated the Empire, and in a way him too, when she first started work for him. Kestra sighs then said, "Fine, but I want my normal price for this...job."

"Consider it done." Xizor said, with a smile. Kestra nods then asked, "Where is this man?"

"You're in luck, my dear. He's on Coruscant; I will have Guri send you his coordinates when you leave." Xizor said, still smiling at her and it sort of made her uncomfortable but she tried to ignore it. Finally he looked away, Kestra relaxed until he placed one of his hands on her thigh which immediately made her tense up and blush a deep crimson. Okay, so she had that strict 'No dating your employers' policy and was basically immune to men's advances to her as well as being immune to the Falleen's pheromones but that doesn't mean that she was completely immune, because let's face it, she's a woman and at the end of the day she has the same desires as any other woman out there in the galaxy.

Kestra cleared her throat and said, "_Vor entye_, Your Highness. Now if you'll excuse me I have a job to go do."

Kestra stood up, though a little wobbly and walked towards the room feeling his eyes on her as she walked out of the room. Kestra relaxed only when the door closed behind her.

_Finally I can start on my quest for vengeance…_

Kestra turns on her heel and heads towards the door, she heard her datapad chirp and she pulled it out and looked at it. Sure enough, the bounty's coordinates were on it now. Kestra noticed that he's been a very busy _hut'uun_…and so has been his bank account. Kestra was going to have to transfer the data into her _beskar'gam_'s gauntlets when she got back to the _Ka'rta Tor_.

Kestra walked past a group of men that was hanging around in the hangars, all they did was watch her as she walked by then went back to their conversation...they knew who she was and knew better than to mess with her. She walked up _Ka'rta Tor_'s ramp and looked around the cargo hold; she sees her modified Basilisk war droid, known in Mando'a as the _Bes'uliik_ or "iron beast", the _Gra'tua Cuun_ next to the Lhosan Industries swoop racer that was also kept there.

_I haven't used _Gra'tua Cuun_ in a while so I'll use him on this mission._

Kestra headed to her room, so that she can get dress into her _beskar'gam_ and download the data from her datapad to her gauntlets. The door slide shut behind her with a soft hiss. Then she sat down and plugged her datapad to her gauntlets and started the download as she walked out to prep _Gra'tua Cuun_ for the mission. _Gra'tua Cuun_ has been in the Verd family for a _very_ long time since Ne'tra Verd, as well as the _Ka'rta Tor_.

Kestra noticed that Ge'tal was in there now but she ignored him and went straight to her war droid. Kestra turned _Gra'tua Cuun_ on and climbed up on the seat and looked through the navicomputer.

–Hello, my friend, - the war droid said as soon as he was fully turned on. –Do we have another mission? –

"Yep, Xizor found one of the people that were responsible for the deaths of my family and handmaidens also he stolen a jewel from Xizor who wants the jewel back and that guy dead." Kestra said as she climbed off his back, his navicomputer was now clean just in case that they were arrested and the CSF went through his navicomputer to see where they had been to.

– What will happen when you complete your mission for vengeance? –

Kestra pauses then shrugs, saying, "I don't know."

Ge'tal walks over then and said, "You didn't think that far?"

Kestra turns to face him and said, "No, but when that time comes I will worry about it than."

Ge'tal opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it when he noticed that her flight suit was unzipped just enough to let him see her cleavage. Ge'tal knew her well enough that she didn't do it because of him; she always wore her flight suit like that.

"Besides," Kestra said, turning away from him, "I don't know what the future brings."

Ge'tal crossed his arms over his chest and said, "I think it would be good."

Kestra gave him a funny look and said, "You do know that the future is never set in stone, right?"

"But you can always make your own future."

"That's true but it doesn't mean that something won't throw a wrench into my future." Kestra said with a wave of her hand dismissively, her comlink chirped letting her know that the download was done. Kestra leaves the cargo hold, leaving Ge'tal in his thoughts. When she arrived to her room, she finished putting on the rest of her armor.

_I wonder how my mother would react if she was still alive?_

Kestra sighs and puts the helmet on; she waited for the HUD to upload. When it did she walked out of her room and back to the cargo hold. She notices that Ge'tal wasn't there anymore but that was okay, he didn't understand what drove her to do this.

"Ready, old friend?" Kestra asked _Gra'tua Cuun_ as she climbed up into his saddle.

-I am always ready to go anywhere with you, Kestra. –

"Good, now let's go." Kestra said as she guns his engines and blasted out of _Ka'rta Tor_'s cargo hold. She quickly tapped the coordinates to the bounty's condo then put _Gra'tua Cuun_ into stealth mode. Kestra used the fact that the Basilisk war droid can be easily modified to her advantage and had modified _Gra'tua Cuun_ to fit her needs.

Kestra's thoughts drifted to her childhood friend, Venku Skirata. Kestra's eyes narrowed as she thought about that horrible night when her life changed, she didn't know if Fenn did anything or did just let them get away with murder but it didn't matter to her if he did anything in the end because she knew the truth and there was evidence that stormtroopers were behind the deaths of her _Ba'vodu_ and handmaidens. Kestra tightened her hold on the handles causing her gloves to make a creaking sound.

She struggled to gain control over her emotions, she didn't want to succumb to her anger though she did allow it to fuel her resolve. A Jedi would tell her that anger would lead to the Dark side but she was Faberian, there was no dark side in the Force with them. Actually they would most likely say that any emotion would lead to the dark side

There is always emotion, to say there is no emotion is _di'kutla_. Kestra bowed her head and took a deep breath and let it out slowly, clearing her thoughts. Anger was good sometimes but not right now, she needed a clear mind until she saw that _chakaar_.

She finally arrived at her destination; she carefully landed _Gra'tua Cuun_ on her bounties' balcony and slide off _Gra'tua Cuun_'s saddle and landed in a crouch. Then she started to walk like that until she was safely hidden in the shadow of a tacky looking statue…it was nice to see that everyone that lived on Coruscant had the same great taste in art (cue sarcasm). Kestra pulls on her datapad and waves it over the panel to the door, the light turned green on both ends and the door opened with a soft hiss. Kestra silently and stealthy walked inside, just like how she was taught by Ori. She barely reacted when she thought of Ori, now was not the time to be thinking of the dead. Kestra pulled out one of her BlasTech LL-30 blaster pistols; they both had silencers since she didn't want anyone calling CSF on her. The jewel was the first thing that she had found…since it was in plain view and on the table, that _di'kut_ should have put a sign over it that read, "Here I am! I am the Jewel that was stolen from Prince Xizor!" Kestra sighed softly and pocketed the jewel before silently going to her bounties' bedroom. He was in a deep sleep; he was in such a deep sleep that he didn't stir when she pressed her pistol to his forehead and pulled the trigger without any hesitation or mercy; he twitched once then went still. Kestra narrowed her eyes behind her helmet as she placed her pistol back in its holster then she turned and walked out and climbed back onto _Gra'tua Cuun_ and flew out of there, just as silently as she had arrived. As she flew back to the _Ka'rta Tor_, she thought about her first kill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"_Please don't kill me!" said the high pitched voice of a Rodian that she had taken on the bounty on. Kestra was fourteen and had just begun her bounty hunting career._

_Kestra scoffed and leaned down towards the cowering Rodian, saying, "Let me give you the job description. Me, Bounty Hunter. You, Bounty. I hit. You bleed. I kill. You die."_

"_But you're just a kid!" the Rodian said, which caused Kestra to roll her eyes though he couldn't see it because she was wearing her helmet._

"_So? A lot of kids start early in some jobs especially if said _kid_ is an orphan." Kestra said, as she aimed her pistol at him. The Rodian looked up at her with fear in his large eyes and said, "You can't kill me, there's no way a kid like you can do it."_

_Kestra raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh? Is that what you think?"_

_And with that she pulled the trigger without any hesitation and watched without any pity or remorse as the Rodian's dead body slumped over. Kestra kneeled down next to him and pulled out a knife and cut off its head, since she needed to bring proof to Jabba the Hutt that she had killed him. She stood up while she put the head in a bag and tied it to her belt._

"_Don't underestimate me just because I am a _kid_ doesn't mean that I can't kill like an adult." And she turns and walks away, leaving the still warm body for the scavengers to feast on. _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kestra knew that to some people, she is considered a child and was treated like a child but to Faberians and _Mando'ade_ she is considered an adult and was treated like an adult.

_That was my very first kill; I had lost the last of my innocence with that kill._

She pulled into the _Ka'rta Tor_'s cargo hold and powered down _Gra'tua Cuun_, she slide off his saddle and walked to her room. Kestra had a ritual that she always follows after completing a bounty and that was to meditate.


	4. Chapter 4

Page | **5**

Ch.4:

Kestra was walking to Xizor's sanctum but this time she was by herself, there was no escort which meant that Xizor had ordered them to leave her alone…nothing screams like highly territorial male then ordering his men to leave his female Bounty Hunter alone.

_Well, that was very boring bounty…I hate killing people while they're asleep but at least Xizor pays well for his bounties._

Kestra finally arrived and the door opened as soon as she walked in front of it, she entered without any hesitation and stood in the center of the room. Xizor was standing in front of the bar, pouring himself some tea.

"I trust that your mission was a success?" Xizor asked as he brought the cup up to his lips and took a sip.

Kestra pulls out the jewel from her utility belt and places it on the table that was in front of her. "Yes." Kestra said, taking a step back and crossing her arms over her chest.

Xizor walks over and picks up the jewel and said, "Very good, Kestra…you are worth every credit that I pay you."

Kestra bows slightly at him but not fully…Faberian women do not bow towards a male of any species.

"You flatter me, Your Highness." Kestra said as she straightened, Xizor gently places the jewel in a box before coming to stand in front of her. Kestra watched him walk towards her with her predator like eyes. Xizor took her hands into his and held them up and said, "You are probably the best bounty hunter that I have ever hired."

Kestra didn't reply to that because in truth she was still green, unlike Boba Fett or Cin Vhetin, the only two bounty hunters that Kestra will ever work with.

"Now when will you retire from this messy business and work for me?"

"Sorry, but I still have things to do Your Highness." Kestra said smiling at him. Xizor released her with a sigh and said, "Then you're dismissed and I will contact you when I have another job for you."

Kestra bows once more and leaves the room, Kestra headed towards the hangar where her ship was docked at. She walked up the ramp and was greeted by T3-M7, who beeped a greeting at her.

Kestra leaned down and patted his head, saying "Hello to you too, T3."

T3 warbled at her and Kestra laughed and said, "Yeah, we're leaving Coruscant now."

Kestra straightened and head up to the cockpit, Shuk'orok was already waiting for her there. Kestra slipped into the pilot seat and said, "You've read my mind, Shuk'orok old friend."

Shuk'orok moaned. "Yeah, I know. I don't like being here any longer than I have either...this place makes me very uneasy."

Kestra started the engines and the Ka'rta Tor to life. Kestra grabbed the handles and lifted the ship off the platform and zoomed up into space, once in space Kestra set the coordinates to Tatoonie where she had received a message from an old friend telling her to come there ASAP because he had something to tell her. Kestra stood up and looked at her copilot, "I am going to take a nap, wake me when we get there."

Shuk'orok growled and Kestra turned and headed out of the cockpit, she went into her room and flopped onto the bed with her hands tucked behind her head. Kestra heard a _twrr_-ing and looked up to see her pet Jha'dur, Jax walking towards her.

"What's up, Jax? Have you been good?"

Jax _twrr_ed again and jumped on the bed next to her. Kestra sighed and closed her eyes so that she can sleep but before she did, she felt her ancestor. Kestra opened one eye and looked up at him.

"I came to warn you to be extremely careful when you go to Tatoonie." And with that he disappeared leaving Kestra staring at the spot that he had been standing at.

_Well, that's certainly new...he has never came to warn me about anything._

Kestra shrugged and tucked her hands behind her head. She frowned when a thought came to her and she sat up.

_I have to call him..._

Kestra swung her legs off the cot and stood up in one fluid motion and walked over to where she keeps her comlink and picked it up, she keyed in a code and waited until he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jaing. It's Kestra."

"Hey, _Kes'ika_! It's been a while since I had last heard your voice. How are you?"

"I've been good. I just completed a bounty and I am heading to Tatoonie."

Kestra heard someone on the other end of the line asking Jaing a question and him saying, _"It's Kes'ika"_ and then some shuffling and a new voice saying, "_Kes'ika_! When are going to visit us finally?"

Kestra laughed when she heard Mereel's voice and said, "Did you wrestle Jaing's comlink from him again?"

"He always talks to you and I rarely ever do."

"I see...so how has everyone been?"

"Ah, they're doing well and they all miss you."

"That's good to hear," Kestra said, ignoring his not-so-subtle-hint that she should come back.

"When are you going to come back to us, _Kes'ika_?"

"I knew that you were going to ask that again," Kestra said with a sigh. "After I am done with my mission."

"You mean your vengeance?"

Kestra sighs heavily and said, "Yeah…after my vengeance is completed."

Mereel sighs as well and said, "Just be careful and stay alive...I don't want to lose another woman that I love." And he then handed the comlink back to Jaing, leaving Kestra dumbfounded at what he had just said. Mereel had never admitted to the fact that he had loved Ori...more than a friend. Kestra blinked away the tears that had welled up suddenly and wiped them away with the heel of her hand just as Jaing's voice came on.

"You okay, _Kes'ika_? Jaing asked gently, which caused Kestra's shoulders to quiver and she covered her eyes with her hand, despite the fact that he can't see the tears that are now falling freely.

"Yeah, I am fine." Kestra whispered, her voice breaking slightly.

"Listen, we all worry about you because you haven't contacted us at all since you had left us and we only learned about what you have been doing since that day after your two crew mates to contact us after you were taken by the Stalkers."

Kestra winced at that, the Stalkers were a bunch of force-sensitive lunatics that had tried to convert her to the dark side of the Force and that was an experience that she would rather want to forget about it.

"I know...I realized that after I was saved by Vhetin and Jay."

"But you had to realize it after you were captured and not before."

Kestra ran her hand through her hair and said, "I thought I was protecting you and myself from the _chakaar_ that had betrayed us by not contacting any one from my past but I couldn't even protect myself from the ones that wanted to convert me to the dark side."

Jaing sighs and said, "It's not your fault, _Kes'ika_. No one is blaming you for what you had to do in order to insure that everyone that you know stays alive but know this: all we want to do is help you in whatever way we can."

Kestra lets out a shaky breath and said, "I know. _Vor entye_, Jaing."

"_Kih'parjai, Kes'ika_," Jaing said. "I also cared about them... especially Parell."

"I bet you wished that had told her that before she was killed," Kestra said, smiling sadly.

"There are a lot of things that I wished I had said or done but now it's too late and now I have to live with regrets as well as the memories that I have of her."

Kestra blinks and shook head, both Mereel and Jaing are acting weird and it was sort of scaring her. She yawns and said, "I gotta go. I am getting sleepy."

"Okay, night _Kes'ika_."

"Night. I'll contact you again when I have time." Kestra said and closed the line. She stretched and rubbed the back of her head; she climbed back into her cot and lay on her back. Kestra closed her eyes and let out a breath as sleep came and took her into the realm of dreams.

Kestra didn't know how long she had been asleep but she was awakened by Shuk'orok's voice over the loud speaker. Kestra stood up and headed to the cockpit; she slipped into the pilot seat next to him and said, "Ready to see sand?"

Shuk'orok growled and Kestra laughed. "I have no idea why he is even here since he also hates sand."

Kestra grabbed the yolk just as the _Ka'rta Tor_ came out of hyperspace; Kestra frowned when she saw the desert planet.

_Tatoonie...a planet owned by the Hutts._

Luckily for her, everyone on that planet knew her well enough to know that she is not a woman to mess with.

Kestra sighs and looks at her copilot, saying, "Prepare the landing equipment and make sure that anything of interest to the Jawas is out of sight."

Shuk'orok moaned in agreement. Kestra steers the freighter to Tatoonie, the old freighter shook when it entered the atmosphere of the planet.

"Oh, looks like the old girl needs to be checked again before we take off."

Kestra lands the freighter in one of the landing bays in Anchorhead. She turns off the engines and turns to her Wookiee copilot and said, "Watch the ship and make sure that no Jawas get near it."

Shuk'orok growled and Kestra stood and headed out of the ship, Fenn was waiting for here at the Anchorhead Cantina.

_This better be good for him to call me here all the way from Coruscant._

Kestra walks into the cantina and looks around, she sees a Mandalorian sitting at the bar and walks over to him and sits down on the empty bar stool next to him.

"Hello, Fenn Shysa. This better be good for you to come here to tell me yourself."

The _Mand'alor_ looks at her and smiled charmingly at her, "Now I will never waste your time with just calling you all the way here just to have a nice friendly chat with you, my dear."

"You mean to just to flirt with me, right?" Kestra said, smirking at him.

Fenn laughed and patted her on the shoulder, saying "You got me there, my dear. Now to the reason why I called you here, there have been mysterious deaths on Concordia and no one knows what is behind these deaths."

Kestra just stared at him and shook her head and finally said, "So what makes you think that I know what is behind these deaths?"

Fenn flashed Kestra a charming and flirtatious smile and said, "Because everyone knows that Faberians are excellent trackers."

"Thanks for that compliment, Fenn." Kestra said, smiling at him despite her words.

Fenn laughed again and said, "You know that I didn't mean it like that, _Kes'ika_."

"You mind if I choose who I want to come with me, Fenn?" Kestra asked as she stood up.

"You're not going to let your crew come with you?" Fenn asked.

"Oh, I am but I have two other bounty hunters in mind for this mission."

Fenn smiled and said, "Do whatever you think is best, _Kes'ika_."

"Thanks, Fenn. I'll see you later." Kestra said and walked out of the cantina. She was heading towards the landing bay where she had landed her old freighter when she noticed the smoke rising from that area. Panic settled in the pit of her gut and she ran towards the landing bay, she skidded to a stop when she got there and ducked behind some crated and peeked around them.

_Dark Troopers? Why are they here? No one from the Empire knows my real identity...unless someone had reprogrammed these buckets of bolts._

Which sounded way more likely than the former, since this was not the first time that someone had sent droids after her but she wasn't too happy since they had also damaged her ship...actually they sort of blow it up and now Kestra had to deal with them quick before anyone else came here. Kestra looked up and saw a nice size crate above the Dark Troopers and using the force, she brought it down on them crashing them instantly.

Kestra stood up and ran towards the ship and as she got near it, she heard someone cursing in Huttese. Kestra let out a sigh of relief when she saw her crew safe and lightly charred.

Ge'tal looked at her and said, "Why is that whenever you leave we get attacked?!"

Kestra shrugged and said, "Maybe they thought I was still aboard."

"Well, they should have checked before blowing up my poor baby!"

"Uh, it's my ship so it's my baby. You're just the mechanic that fixes her when she is damaged." Kestra said, looking at the damage of her freighter.

_I hate Dark troopers._

HK-28 walked up to her and said, "Statement: Kestra, your Basilisk war droid had survived that explosion."

"Well, that's good news."

Shuk'orok yowled. "The _Kote Darasuum_ is still in the landing pad where I left it."

Hopefully no Jawas got any funny ideas while she was away but then again, she had modified it were it would shot a line fire at any one that wasn't loaded into its database.

Kestra looks at her mechanic and her three droids, "You three stay here and fix K_a'rta Tor_ while Shuk'orok and I go back to Coruscant."

"Are you sure?" Ge'tal asked.

Kestra shrugged and said, "Not really but I need _Ka'rta Tor_ up and running when I need her the most."

Ge'tal rubbed his chin and said, "Fine but be careful."

Kestra spread her arms wide as though presenting herself to the whole galaxy and said, smirking, "I am always careful."

And with that she and Shuk'orok left the hangar and went to the second one that was close by. There, waiting for her was the _Kote Darasuum_ a _Teroch_-type gunship that was also owned by Ne'tra Verd, just how many ships she owned no one knew.

Kestra lowered the ramp and ushered Shuk'orok in before following him inside, the ramp closing behind her. She slide into the pilot seat as Shuk'orok got into the copilot seat. She started the engines and the old gunship roared to life, Kestra grabbed the steering yoke and pulled up lifting the ship out of the hangar and up into Tatoonie's astrosphere and as her Wookiee copilot prepared the ship for the leap to hyperspace, Kestra sent out a series of coded beeps and bleeps. Then sat back as the ship leaped into hyperspace.


	5. Chapter 5

Page | **7**

Ch.5

When Kestra walked into the Outlander Club on Vos Gesal Street in Coruscant's Uscru Entertainment District, she noticed two things. One was that it was very crowded and the second was that her friend was already there and he was alone.

"Where's Jay?" Kestra asked as she slides onto a stool next to him.

Cin Vhetin looked at her and said "She's on her way."

"Good because I am going to need the both of you and since you're partners I thought it was a little strange that she wasn't with you." Kestra said as she waved the bartender away with a casual wave of her hand, she never drank anything from here and she noticed that Vhetin wasn't drinking anything either.

Kestra sensed his partner Jay Kolta way before she even walked in and like Kestra's entranced, she caused many males to look at her. She wasn't surprised at their fascination; she was certainly attractive. She had long brown hair that she let fall loosely over her shoulders, dark eyes, and a quick smile. But she also had that hint of toughness beneath her beautiful exterior that was one of the reasons Kestra liked her.

"Hey, Kestra what's up?" Jay asked as she slipped onto the stool next to hers.

"Oh, nothing much just the ceiling." Kestra said with a hint of a smile of her lips.

"I got to stop saying that to you." Jay said with a smile and a shake of her head.

Kestra laughs loudly which caused many to turn their heads to look at her.

"So why did you call us here, Kestra?" Vhetin asked.

Kestra cupped her chin in the palm of her hand and propped her elbow on the bar and said, "Straight to the point can't we just take a few minutes to catch up, _Ci'ika_?"

Vhetin just gave her a three beat stare which caused the young bounty huntress to hold her hands up and say, "Fine…killjoy." Though the last part was muttered but Jay heard it and had to stifle a laugh.

"Something's is happening in Concordia, a lot of people have been either turning up dead or missing and Fenn Shysa, our beloved _Mand'alor_, wants to me to do something about it and I need your help because I got one of my funny _feelings_." Kestra said slanting Vhetin a look before looking away to watch the other patrons in the Club.

"Bad or good?" Vhetin asked they both knew that she was force-sensitive and felt things through the Force.

"Bad." Kestra said rubbing the back of her neck.

"And you still want to do this?" Jay asked.

"It's for _Manda'yaim_ I don't want what's happening on Concordia coming to _Manda'yaim_." Kestra said crossing her arms, she has people that she cares about living there and she doesn't want anything to happen to them.

"When do we leave?" Vhetin asked.

"As soon as possible because I got a feeling that if we wait even longer something bad is going to happen."

"Well, well look what we have here boys. It's our favorite female Mandalorian." A leering voice said from behind the trio of bounty hunters. As one all three bounty hunters looked behind them and saw three Devaronians standing behind them.

"Oh, hello boys how are you this lovely and fine day?" Kestra said casually turning around and leaning back, propping both elbows on the bar behind her. Outwardly she was upbeat and carefree; inwardly she was anything but that.

_I should have changed out of my beskar'gam when we got here…I totally forgot that I had enemies on Coruscant._

Vhetin looks from her to their new "friends" and asked, "You know them?"

Kestra gives him one of her famous shrugs and said, "Sadly I do. They are some people that I sort blindsided a couple times on some bounties in the past and no, I don't remember their names."

"Don't pretend you don't remember our names!"

"But I am not pretending though." Kestra said.

"C'mon Cheklev it doesn't matter if she doesn't remember she's gonna die anyways." The second Devaronian said which made her recall their names. They were the Grahrk brothers! They were Cheklev, Dvakvar and Vilmarh Grahrk and she can say now she wasn't too happy about the fact that she was going to be killed by these three _di'kutla chakaars_.

"Amazing what being threatened can make you remember." Kestra muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Vhetin asked.

"I just remembered their names." Kestra said as she stood up and planted one hand on her hip while the other dangled casually at her side.

"Look, boys. I had been very kind in past not to vaporize your sorry hides but as of right now I am not in a very good mood and will have no problem vaporizing you three chuckle heads."

Vhetin raised an unseen eyebrow at that, normally Kestra wouldn't even think about vaporizing other bounty hunters no matter how annoying they may be so this mission clearly told him just how uneasy it had made the force-sensitive bounty hunter.

"_Udesiir_, Kestra." Vhetin said standing up and placing a restraining hand on the young bounty hunter's shoulder.

"_Wayii_! You think I'm going to kill them, Vhetin?" Kestra asked her tone low and cool which was his only warning sign before she attacked. It was too fast for the eye to follow, one minute she was standing there and the next she was gone, using those Teräs Käsi that was made even more deadlier in the hands of a Faberian bounty hunter. They were on the floor way before they even knew what hit them and Kestra was standing in the center of their writhing but still alive bodies.

"Consider this you're only warning." Kestra said before motioning to her two companions to follow her with a tilt of her head. The three bounty hunters walked out in silence but after a few minutes it was broken by Kestra sighing loudly.

"I can't believe I lost control in there."

Vhetin looked down at her than away and said, "That tells me just how uneasy this mission had made you."

"Uneasy? Well, that's putting it lightly!" Kestra said with a click of her tongue than she went silent, they didn't talk until they had reached the hangar where Kestra hand landed her ship.

Vhetin cocked his head when he saw the strange ship and said, "What happened to _Ka'rta Tor_?"

Kestra sort of tensed at that and then said, "It…uh…sort of got damaged."

"…Was it blown up?" Vhetin asked noticing her odd behavior.

Kestra bite her lip and said "…A little?..."

"So it was blown up." Vhetin said, smiling a little though neither of his companions could see it but Kestra clearly sensed his amusement because her fiery, short temper reared its familiar head.

"_Ne'johaa_! Besides the _Kote Darasuum_ is just fast as the _Ka'rta Tor_, _di'kut_!"

Kestra was probably the only person that seemed to have no problem insulting any one that crossed her path no matter if that person will kill her or not; it was both a blessing and a curse because that mouth of hers gets her into numerous bad and sticky situations.

"Nice to see that you're back to normal, Kestra." Vhetin said.

Kestra blinked than blushed, looking away and scratching her cheek saying, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Jay chuckled shaking her head at Kestra actions, many people have mistaken Vhetin and Kestra as siblings because of how they treated each other though there were times when he did treat Kestra as he did with everyone else but Kestra seems to have the knack for pushing all the right buttons.

"Where's the rest of your crew?" Vhetin asked when he saw Shuk'orok walking down the loading ramp and didn't see her other crew members.

"On Tatoonie fixing the _Ka'rta Tor_ after it was introduced to Dark Troopers."

Vhetin looked at her and said, "Why did they attack you?"

"Someone probably reprogrammed them." Kestra said, dismissively which told him that she knew for a fact that the Empire still had no idea who she really was and that it was someone that had a grudge against the female bounty hunter.

Vhetin crossed his arms and asked, "Just how many people have you pissed off, Kestra?"

Kestra sputtered on mock indignation and outrage, clasping her hand over her heart and said, "I did nothing! I was just an innocent bystander!"

Vhetin just stared at her and Kestra started right back at him before sighing and saying, "Fine! I sort of blindsided them on bounties too."

"Just who haven't you blindsided?" Jay asked her now curious.

"Well, there was only one person on that list but now he isn't." Kestra said with innocent tone in her voice that causes Vhetin to cringe inside.

"Who is it?" Vhetin asked.

"Um…Boba Fett." Kestra said now looking embarrassed but not bothered by the fact that she had blindsided the best bounty hunter in the galaxy.

"Why is it that whenever I leave you that you always end up on someone's most hated list?" Vhetin asked not at least bothered by her reaction, he knew her well enough by now to know that Kestra just wasn't hardwired like how normal people should react when they had blindsided Boba Fett.

"I honestly don't know. It must be my charming personality that draws them to me." Kestra said batting her eyes innocently at Vhetin and smiling.

Vhetin only shook his head at her antics; she had something seriously wrong with her.

"Besides I have been watching how I step around him now." Kestra said walking over to her Wookiee copilot.

"And how has that been working out for you?" Vhetin asked her.

"Just fine besides some bounty hunters try not to kill other bounty hunters." Kestra said.

"And those guys from the club?"

"Underestimated me because I was a woman. In my cultural only the strongest could survive and the weak die."

Vhetin looked at her, her voice was different but the words were the same, it was the same thing that _she_ had told him when he had first crossed paths with her five years ago.

Kestra turns towards him and said, "And I almost forgot! You have a _cyar'tomade_ of Twi'leks back at Jabba's palace on Nar Shaddaa."

Vhetin didn't respond but she knew that he had heard her. Kestra turned away and began talking to her Wookiee copilot.

Shuk'orok moaned. "Concordia is very pretty…I think, I don't know. I haven't been there before."

Shuk'orok growled. "I haven't been to Faber either."

Shuk'orok growled and shook his head. "Hey, I didn't ask for your pity! Besides I've been trying to get you to go back home."

He moaned. "Yeah, yeah you owe me a Wookiee life debt because I saved your life but I keep telling you that it was nothing."

He barked. "No need to get snippy with me, pal."

Shuk'orok growled. "I also don't need a babysitter."

Shuk'orok just ruffled her hair and walked away. Kestra huffed and tried to fix her hair, saying "And stop that! I'm not a kid anymore!"

Kestra looks at her two companions and said, "It's best if we go in our own ships, just in case anything bad happens to one of us."

"Is it that dangerous?" Jay asked her.

"What I sense feels…familiar somewhat…I really can't explain why it feels so familiar, I'll learn more once we get there." Kestra said.

A _twrr_ing sound and something rubbing against his leg was his only warning that the Wookiee wasn't the only thing she had brought with her. Vhetin kneeled down and rubbed Jax's head and Jax's extremely long purplish black tongue snaked out and flicked against the underside of his helmet.

"You made yourself a new friend, Vhetin." Kestra said while slapping her gauntlet against her thigh plate, summoning her companion to her. Jax weaved through Vhetin's legs one more time before trotting over to Kestra and rubbed himself vigorously against her legs.

"He's ready to hunt." Vhetin said as the Jha'dur yawned exposing its lethal and sharp teeth.

"Yeah, Jax also senses something about Concordia and it's making him excited." Kestra said leaning down and rubbing the underside of Jax's jaw causing the Jha'dur to _twrr _and wag his whiplike tail.

"So he's going to help?" Jay asked as Jax walked over and rubbed against her legs, _twrr_ing deep in his throat.

"Jha'durs are like the Strills to Faberians though not as stinky." Kestra said as Jax came back to her after receiving attention from Jay.

Kestra nudged Jax back towards the ship and said, "Let's get going."

Vhetin and Jay left after saying their good-byes though Vhetin just inclined his head in a silent good-bye. Kestra turned and walked up the ramp with Shuk'orok at her side and Jax behind her. Kestra slide into the pilot's seat as Shuk'orok sat in the copilot seat.

"Get ready to jump to hyperspace when we get out of Coruscant hyperspace, Shuk'orok." Kestra said as she started the engines and pulled the yoke down and lifted _Kote Darasuum_ up from the landing pad and blasted into the astrosphere of Coruscant. Kestra pulled back the lever and watched as everything turned white.

Concordia was one of two moons orbiting the Outer Rim world of Mandalore. A verdant moon possessing dense forests, the Mandalorians settled Concordia as an agricultural colony. Kestra had heard about it from her aunt Tendra Vernius who was a _Mando'ade_ and she had never thought that she will ever come here.

_What's next? Concord Dawn?_

Kestra looked at her Wookiee copilot and said, "Prepare for landing…and whatever else is down there."

Kestra's bad feeling hadn't lesson up, in fact intensified as _Kote Darasuum_ broke the astrosphere and landed on a landing pad that was just outside the village. Kestra learned how to speak Concordian though _Mando'a_ and Concordian were mutually intelligible, meaning that they were similar enough that an individual speaking one could easily converse with someone speaking the other. But Tender had insisted that she learned the native language of any planet that she may visit or at least try to. Kestra stood up and said, "You stay with the ship, Shuk'orok. I need you to be able to tell my family on _Manda'yaim_ what happens here."

Shuk'orok moaned. "You can never be too sure when you met the widow maker, _vod'ika_."

Kestra turned and headed out of the cockpit with Jax at her side, she pushed the button and the ramp lowered. She walked down the ramp as Jax took off like a bat outta of Mustafar. Kestra put her index finger and thumb in her mouth and let out a loud shrill whistle that caused Jax to make a quick turn without losing his balance and run back to her. She saw Vhetin's and Jay's ships land and walked over to them just as Jax caught up with her.

"Now you tell me what's wrong with this picture." Kestra said jerking her thumb towards the village.

Jay looks towards the village and frowns, "It's quiet."

"That's right and you don't need to have any force powers to tell you that this village is deserted." Kestra said placing her hands on her hips.

"So now what?" Jay asked.

"We start looking for clues of course." Kestra said and raised her right gauntlet up and pushed the green button activating her comlink to the ship.

"Shuk'orok, close the ramp. I don't want whatever is behind this getting on board."

Shuk'orok roared and Kestra watched the ramp rise up and turns towards her companions.

"Let's go. It's better if we stay together until we learn exactly what had happened here." Kestra said.

"You think that whatever happened here was bad?" Jay asked.

"Oh, I don't _think_ whatever happened here is bad I _know_ whatever happened here is bad." Kestra said as she turned and throw her arm out, yelling out one command.

"_Oya_!" Kestra exclaimed and Jax bolted and his human companions quickly followed him. Kestra was the first to turn the corner and froze in her tracks, quickly pulled her carbine blaster rifle off her back.

"What's wrong, Kestra?" Jay asked.

"I just found the villagers…or what's left of them," Kestra whispered.

Jay looked down the alley between two houses and felt her bile rise, directly in front of them was a large pile of body parts, blood and gore completely covered the walls.

"What could have done this?" Jay asked.

Kestra seemed to have composed herself and walked towards the pile and crouched. She placed her hand on the hand of one of the corpses and closed her eyes, opening herself to the Force. Quickly the images came to her, their deaths were vivid in her mind and she jerked back with a gasp and fell right into Vhetin's arms.

"What happened?" Vhetin asked but when she didn't answer, he pulled her away and held her out at arm's length. Kestra was clenching her head and muttering to herself, shaking.

Jax _twrre_d and rubbed up against Kestra's back, trying to sooth her of whatever she had seen.

After a while, Kestra calmed down and sucked in hair and let it out through her teeth and said, "What had killed them was something that I _couldn't_ see."

Vhetin looked down at her, she was shaking slightly.

"It had hidden itself from the force." Kestra said straightening up and looking up at Vhetin and Jay.

"So what do we do know?" Jay asked.

Kestra stood up and said, "We have no choice but to go after whatever is behind this."

The only warning she got was the sound of raw flesh and claws scraping against rock, as well as a sibilant hissing sound and then she was attacked. She couldn't see the creature but she did hear its screeching sounds as smacked her hard enough for her to go flying ten meters and slammed into the wall that was across the street. Kestra slide down the wall as blood leaked from the gash on her cheek, she looked up into the face of the creature that had attacked her and felt her heart stop beating.

It was a Death Stalker; Death Stalkers have an appearance of extremely thin young men with pale skin, shoulder-length platinum-blonde hair, and a bloody mouth full of sharp teeth. His most distinctive features are the twelve-inch-long, bloodstained claws his fingers have grown into. The Death Stalker wears nothing but a lion cloth and bandages wrapped around his eyes. Kestra learned that she had broken some of her ribs when she tried to sit up and felt great pain shot up from the right side.

Kestra spat out the blood that was in her mouth and said, "My, I thought you ugly bastards were dead."

Jay and Vhetin ran over towards her both had their weapons drawn and pointed towards the creature, Vhetin handed Kestra her rifle back which she took and slung it behind her.

"Put your blasters away. They won't work against a Death Stalker."

"Death Stalker?" Vhetin asked not taking his eyes off of the Death Stalker in front of them.

"Yeah, Death Stalkers were once Faberians that had been mutated by Sith Alchemy into deadly and agile hunters which explains why I couldn't sense it until it attacked me because sometimes Faberians can't be sensed by other Faberians." Kestra said wincing as Vhetin raised her right arm and wrapped it around his shoulders while he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Then what can we do?" Vhetin asked as he and Jay started to walk backwards, in answer Kestra put her index and middle finger in her mouth and let out a much shriller and louder whistle and said, "_Oya_, Jax!"

Jax lunged at the Death Stalker and both creatures started to fight with teeth, tongue and claws, and tail in Jax's case. Jax was doing a lot of damage to the Death Stalker than it was doing to him and with an inhuman screech, it jumped up onto one of the roof's and ran off, going back to whatever it came from.

Kestra let out a groan and said, "Let's go back to the _Kote Darasuum_, we'll be safer there."

Vhetin helped Kestra limp back to the Kote Darasuum and the ramp was lowering as soon as they came close to it and Shuk'orok ran out roaring.

"It's two broken ribs, nothing that a healing trance can't fix." Kestra said as Shuk'orok gently took her from Vhetin and picked her up, carrying her up the ramp. Jay and Vhetin were right behind him and the ramp closed as soon as Jax was inside. Shuk'orok sat her down on the only bed in the medical bay.

"Well, at least there's only one of those creatures." Jay said.

"There's not only one. There are many more of them…since they were Faberians; they too have a hive mind and have a Regnant Empress as well," Kestra said as she lay down on the bed and closed her eyes. "Now if you excuse me, I have a healing trance to go into."

And Kestra closed her eyes and her chest began to rise very slowly, in fact that was the only thing that told them that she was still alive because she looked like she was dead.

Shuk'orok ushered them out of the medical bay and closed the door behind them.

Jay looked at Vhetin and asked, "What do we do now?"

"We wait until she is done healing and wakes up. Kestra is the only one that knows these creatures and she probably knows their weakness." Vhetin said.

Jax _twrr_ed and rubbed against Vhetin's leg, seeking comfort as its master lay in the medical bay healing from her injuries. Vhetin crouched down and rubbed the back of Jax's ears causing him to make a soft _twrr_ing sound as they waited for the one person who had all the answers to wake up.


	6. Chapter 6

Page | **6**

Ch. 6

Kestra's eyes fluttered open and she was nearly blinded by the bright white light directly above her head, she sat up and rubbed her watery eyes.

Haar'chak_! That really hurts!_

Kestra swung her legs over the edge of the bed and began to take off her _beskar'gam_ and stacked it next to her on the bed then she unzipped her flight suit and looked at the bare skin beneath it, the skin above her ribs was red and there was no pain. She zipped it back up and put her plates back on and slide off the bed and walked out of the medical bay. She found her companions just outside the medical bay; she stops and says "You were waiting for me to wake up?"

Jay snaps her head towards her in surprise and said, "You're healed!?"

"Yeah, nothing that a healing trance couldn't fix." Kestra said stretching, which is a form of force healing.

"So how do we deal with those Death Stalkers?" Vhetin asked.

"With this." Kestra said as she pulled out a curved-hilt lightsaber from the pouch on her thigh plate.

"Is that what I think it is?" Jay asked, staring at it.

"Yes, it is." Kestra said, activating the lightsaber, its red blade glowed brightly in the semi-dark hallway. Red meant something else to the Faberians so their lightsabers were once red but that quickly changed when Marrika Nerys had explored the galaxy during her time fighting against her mother.

"So anything like a lightsaber can kill them?" Vhetin asked.

"Yes, blasters are too loud and noisy. So your Lightsaber pike and my lightsaber will be able to take them out easily since they're not that loud." Kestra said deactivating her lightsaber and clipping it to her belt. Kestra looks at Shuk'orok who had joined them in the hallway.

"Lower the ramp, Shuk'orok. I need to practice my lightsaber skills."

Shuk'orok growled. "It's okay Death Stalkers are more active at night than they are during the day which explains why I am still alive."

Shuk'orok moaned. "I'll be fine; my guard and force powers are high so it won't catch me off guard again."

Shuk'orok still had his doubts but he relented and went to lower the ramp. Kestra started to walk down the ramp and looked at her companions, saying "You might want to stay in the loading bay just in case I am wrong though."

Vhetin shook his head and said, "No, I'm going to go with you so that I can be there when it attacks again."

Kestra looks at the other two and asked, "You two are going to come too?"

"Yes, my blasters may not be able to kill them but I can at least provide cover fire." Jay said.

Kestra just shrugged and walked down the ramp once she was a good distance away from the _Kote Darasuum_, she unclipped her lightsaber and activated it and started to perform Form IV: Ataru, also known as the "Way of the Hawk-Bat", or "The Aggression Form", was the fourth of the seven forms of lightsaber combat. And a form of lightsaber combat that all the Prophets were trained in. Kestra closed her eyes as a wave of pain flared inside her heart, of all her aunts it was Jira that she had missed the most. Jira had begun to train Kestra as soon she the girl began to walk and talk.

_The Empire will pay for what they had done._

Jay had trouble keeping up with Kestra's movements, she was just moving too fast. Kestra did spins, somersaults and backflips and many other acrobatic moves. Then she stops, she was holding the lightsaber vertically with both palms, on the right side of her body.

"Hey, I thought red lightsabers was a Sith weapon?" Jay asked Vhetin who had been silently watching Kestra.

"Red can mean something else to the Faberians." Vhetin said as Kestra went into another series of moves. Jax was lying at Vhetin's feet, his tail wrapped around the rock that Vhetin was sitting on. His orange eyes with vertical pupils watched Kestra's movements with an intensity of a predator, his ears would every now and then to listen to Vhetin's and Jay's conversation and the sounds of the wildlife.

"Who do you think that lightsaber belonged to?" Jay asked, remembering Kestra's words about the lightsaber.

"If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that is probably belonged to one of her ancestors." Vhetin said as he leaned down and scratched behind Jax's ears causing the Jha'dur to _twrr_.

Jay nodded as Kestra stops and turns off her lightsaber, she wiped her brow and heads over to her companions as she came closer Jay noticed that she wasn't sweating that much nor was she breathing heavily.

"Phew! Nothing like a good work out after getting your ribs broken." Kestra said smiling widely.

"Only you would treat that as a good thing." Vhetin said as Jax stands up and stretches, rubbing up against the side of Vhetin's legs. Kestra laughed out loud and said, "That's just the way I am, _Ci'ika_."

Kestra crouched down and Jax walked over to her and lay down then rolled onto his back, demanding that she rubbed his belly which she did. "Jax is probably the only one that can sense them." Kestra said as she rubbed the underside of his muzzle.

"Why didn't he sense it before it attacked?" Jay asked.

Kestra looks up at her and said, "You didn't smell the dead bodies? The smell was very overpowering that Jax couldn't sense them and he was distracted by my reaction with what I had seen."

She stood up and stretched, Kestra felt the muscles under her skin stretch and her bones pop. Kestra placed her hands on her hips and said, "We need to know if there are other villages like this one nearby but I can do that using the Force."

Kestra sat down in a cross legged position and opened herself up to the Force and quickly she sensed that somewhere in the forest was a giant mast of _nothing_ and that the ten villages that were around it had no signs of life. Kestra opened her eyes and said, "There are ten villages around the forest and there are no signs of life in them and in the forest I sense…_nothing_."

Vhetin looked at her and said, "What do you mean?"

She stood up and started to pace, saying "I mean that there's any area in that forest that I can't sense through the Force."

Jax wrapped himself around Kestra's legs, _twrr_ing. Kestra sighs and leans down and scratches the side of his neck and said, "I am grateful that the armor of my mother's people is very flexible otherwise I wouldn't be able to do any of my acrobatic moves."

"You're going to go into the forest?" Vhetin asked catching her tone which easily told him that she was going to go after that Death Stalker.

'Yeah, because Death Stalkers live in a Hive and if we can kill the Queen then the rest will die off." Kestra explained.

"Okay when do we start?" Vhetin asked.

Kestra looks up and notices that the sun was setting, "Tomorrow morning, they are very active at night and may come out."

They headed back to the Kote Darasuum and just as the ramp closed, they heard the screeching of the Death Stalkers. Kestra was looking out the cockpit window and watching those creatures jump around; they were ignoring Vhetin's and Jay's ships but were stalking around the _Kote Darasuum_.

_Of course…they are force-sensitive as well so they are sensing me._

Kestra leaned back in her chair and placed her feet on the empty section of the control panel and watched the Death Stalkers prowl. The others were in the rooms that the _Kote Darasuum_ had. She has insisted that she will be up in the cockpit to watch out for any bold Death Stalkers but she knew from what Jira had told her about them that they will not get anywhere near the ships because Ne'tra Verd.

She crossed her arms over her chest and closed her eyes; their screechings lulled her to sleep.

Kestra jerk awake when the screeching sounds turned into a particularly agonized screams, the light of dawn had brighten up the cockpit with its natural light. She sat up in her chair and looked out the window; outside there was ten corpses of Death Stalkers. Kestra stood and bolted, pounding the doors as she passed.

"Wake up! Something is happening outside!" Kestra yelled, the doors opened and Vhetin and Jay quickly followed her to the loading bay and Kestra lowered the ramp and ran out. Outside was a major blood bath, there were many more corpses of Death Stalkers and all had the wounds of a lightsaber type weapon.

In the center of the massacre was an attractive young woman, she appeared a year older than Kestra. She had long dark brown hair that is pulled back into a braid, brown eyes and a slender yet fairly muscular build. Kestra blinked when she saw the markings, she hadn't seen another Faberian since the deaths of her family and handmaidens and this woman looked vaguely familiar. She wore a black form-fitting flight suit. Soft-soled boots wrapped around her calves all the way to her knees, the hood integrated into the collar of her flight suit. She has black light armor on her torso, back and sides as well on her elbows, forearms, hands, thighs, knees and shins. Clipped to her belt was a black face mask with a visor slashed across the front. And in her hand activated was a red bladed lightwhip.

"Who are you?" Kestra said as they came closer to the woman.

The woman turned and said, "I am Kryssa, one of the new Handmaidens for the new Regnant Empress."

And she got down on one knee as well and bowed her heads, thumping a closed fist lightly against her chest twice, just over her heart. It was a gesture known only to Faberians: a sign of loyalty and fidelity, a symbol of the bond that they all shared with their Regnant Empress. Kestra returned the gesture without any hesitation. The older girl stood up and deactivated her lightwhip.

Then she realized what she had just said, "What do you mean by that?" She had no idea that there were new Handmaidens.

"I am the daughter of Parell and Jaing Skirata." Kryssa said with a smile.

"Whoa, whoa! I didn't know that and neither does Jaing!" Kestra said waving her hands in front of her.

Kryssa smiled and said, "It's a custom for any of the Handmaidens and Bodyguards to keep their pregnancy from their partners and at times their Regnant Empress and send their babies back to Faber for training in secrecy by the mothers of the current Handmaidens and Bodyguards."

"Well, that sort of explains why none of the Handmaidens were too worried that there were no new Handmaidens seeing that there were new ones already...so where are they others? There are always six Handmaidens and four Bodyguards."

"They're still on Faber; we don't to give your true identity away by having six women joining you and your crew when it's common knowledge that the Regnant Empress is always in the presence of six Handmaidens." Kryssa explained Kestra had to agree with that. Kryssa showed the intelligence that her mother and father pose and through the Force, Kestra sensed the same thing that she had sensed as a child with the Handmaidens, a disjointed turmoil of emotions, held in place by a ferociously intelligent logic. Amidst all the violence and anger, Kestra can sense the dark side in her, just like former Handmaidens.

Kryssa noticed the two people standing behind Kestra and said, "Hello."

Vhetin noticed that she spoke with an accentless voice; one that was common with all Faberians and unlike others of her own species, Kestra did have a _Mando'ade_ accent.

"How do we know you are what you say you are?" Vhetin asked he had learned to never take anything at face value.

Kestra looked at him over her shoulder and said, "Faberians don't lie…you should know this by now since you've been trained by them."

"How did you know?" Vhetin asked.

"I was trained by them as well so I can easily tell the fighting style of the Handmaidens…especially Ranek's." Kestra said casually.

"What do we do with the bodies?" Jay asked as she looked around the carnage.

"Death Stalkers turn to dust a little after they die, see?" Kryssa said, pointing at the bodies. They follow her finger and saw that she was right, where there were corpses of Death Stalkers was now a pile of dust.

"No mess to clean up." Kryssa said with a smile.

"How did you know that we were here?" Jay asked.

Kryssa jerked her thumb towards Kestra said, "I sensed her through the Force."

Kestra crossed her arms over her chest and said, "So you came here to help?"

"Yes, since Death Stalkers are the only things that can hunt and kill Faberians." Kryssa said and Kestra stared at her in shock.

_Death Stalkers are the only things that can kill Faberians? So does that mean that Palpatine somehow got ahold of some Death Stalkers?_

"Can Death Stalkers be controlled by people?" Kestra asked.

"Yes, especially if whoever is controlling them is very strong in the Force." Kryssa explained.

Kestra only nods and Kryssa placed her hand on her shoulder and said, "For now worry about the people here, we'll deal with one responsible for your family's and our mother's deaths."

Kestra smiles then places her hand on her shoulder, saying "I understand."

Jax immediately rubbed against Kryssa's legs, welcoming her into the fold just as he had done with Vhetin and Jay.

Kryssa kneeled down and rubbed Jax's neck and said, "I killed all the Death Stalkers that were here."

"Good, let's get going. I want to get done with this as soon as possible and go to _Manda'yaim_ so that I can make sure they didn't manage to go there." Kestra said as Kryssa stood up and Jax sat down in-between them, his tail wagging.

"I agree, I think it's time to introduce myself to my family on Mandalore." Kryssa said smiling.

Kestra turns to her two companions and said, "You ready?"

Jay smiled and said, "Yeah. Let's do this."

Vhetin only nods and Kestra turns and yells towards the ship, "Shuk'orok! Stay with the ship!"

Shuk'orok roared. "Thanks pal! I'll be back!"

She turns and together all five together, counting Jax, ran towards the forest. They broke through the tree line within a matter of minutes, now Kryssa, Kestra and Jax ran silently just like how they were trained to be though Jax it was all on instinct.

_So this is what hunting with someone of my own race feels like._

Kryssa was able to keep up with stride for stride. The hole that had been there since the deaths of her family was filled up now that she had someone related to someone that she knew.

_I may be a _Mando'ade_ but I am also Faberian and the Faberian in me needs the company of her own kind._

Kryssa did a front flip over a fallen log and hit the ground still running while Jax ran under the log and Kestra jumped over it.

Jay was having a hard time keeping up with the two women and the Twrr, Kestra was fast by herself but with Kryssa, it seemed that she got faster. Vhetin seemed to have no problem having keeping up with the two women.

Then they stopped running and crouched down behind a rock, Vhetin and Jay quickly followed.

"What's wrong?" Jay whispered.

"We're arrived at to the Hive. You see those things hanging in the entrance?" Kryssa whispered back and pointed towards the entrance. The things were humanoid in appearance. They suspended themselves from ceilings by its hind feet now more hand-like. The Hive was a hole in the side of a mountain.

"Regis Death Stalkers are very hard to kill than normal Death Stalkers and like Death Stalkers they too were once human." Kestra whispered finishing Kryssa's sentence.

"They also use their claws and teeth as weapons." Kryssa whispered.

"So what's the game plan?" Vhetin whispered.

"Easy, go in there, kill as many as we can, kill the Queen and get out alive." Kestra whispered.

Kryssa noticed Jay's pistols and handed her two small pistols from the holsters on her thighs, whispering "Here use this, they can kill those creatures but I won't say how they are different since we Faberians like to keep how we make our weapons a secret."

Jay took the pistols and noticed that they looked like WESTAR-34 blaster pistols but were black in color instead of silver.

Kryssa noticed her look and whispered, "They are Faberian made and make a mighty big punch despite their small size."

Kestra looks back at the entrance then back at her companions and whispered, "Let's go."

They leaped from their cover and rushed towards the entrance, Vhetin, Kestra and Kryssa activated their respected weapons and Jay fired the pistols that Kryssa gave her. They made quick work of the Regis Death Stalkers, some were either cut in half or had their heads cut by the lightsaber, lightwhip and lightsaber pike.

They ran inside without pausing to take a breath, the others would have sensed the deaths of the ones at the entrance.

Jax leaped up at a Death Stalker that was perched above them, tearing at its throat with his sharp teeth. Kestra sliced off the head of another while Vhetin and Kryssa cut the ones that were fighting in half. Jay had shot the one that had tried to jump her from above in the head instantly killing it and Kryssa ran by and saying, "Not bad for a female non-force-sensitive outsider."

Jay knew by now that whenever a Faberian said that it was a compliment since Kestra had said to her when they had first met. After what seemed like hours of fighting the Death Stalkers and the Regis Death Stalkers, they reached the center of the room and Jay skidded to a stop and stared in a horrific wonder at the…thing…no, woman…in front of them. She wore skin-tight white dress and was humanoid in appearance and around her were Death Stalkers.

"Just to let you know the thing in front of us is no longer human," Kestra said. "You deal with the others…their Queen is mine!"

And with that they lunged into action, taking the Death Stalker and their Queen by surprise which is probably why Kestra was able to get close to the Queen and slice across her body, from hip to shoulder. And as one the Regis and normal Death Stalkers like out an agonized scream before they fell to the floor dead. The Hive began to shake violently and they all looked up.

"_Haar'chak!_ Let's get out of here!" Kestra yelled and they started to run. They jumped out of the entrance just as it came crashing down.

Kestra sat up and rubbed the back of her head and said, "Well that was certainty fun!"

Kryssa sat up and rubbed her lower back, saying "Yes but that wasn't a very large Hive…it was one of the smaller ones."

Jay looked at the Faberian female, saying "You mean there are more of them?"

"Yes, a large Hive of Death Stalkers can wipe out an entire planet in a matter of hours. This planet was lucky since only a small colony of Death Stalkers were brought here." Kryssa said.

"They were brought here? By who?" Vhetin asked.

"The Empire of course," Kryssa said as she stands up. "Since your people haven't been exactly welcoming to the Imperials that come into your sector."

"Is Palpatine planning to use them against the _Mando'ade_?" Kestra asked.

Kryssa looks at her and nods, saying "Yes, Mandalore will be the first planet to have a large Hive of Death Stalkers unleashed onto its surface...in other words: Mandalore will be used as a warning to other planets."

Kestra looks at Vhetin and Jay and said, "We have to go to _Manda'yaim_ and warn them about what we just learned." 


	7. Chapter 7

Page | **8**

Ch. 7

Kestra reunited with her crew on Concordia, the _Ka'rta Tor_ was as good as new and on their way here she told him what she had just learned from Kryssa, her new Handmaiden. She couldn't tell nor sense if the other young woman was nervous about seeing her father.

_I can comm Jaing but this is something that I have to tell him in person._

Kestra on the other hand was very nervous, she hadn't been to _Manda'yaim_ she had left it so she was a bundle of nerves that she knew that Kryssa can sense through the Force. The console beeped, letting her know that she was coming out of hyperspace. The _Ka'rta Tor_ came out of hyperspace and she caught her first glimpse of the planet that she had left behind when she was thirteen years old.

Kestra tapped the blue intercom button and said, "Keldabe Ground Control, this is _Ka'rta Tor_, requesting clearance to land."

"_Pare sol_, _Ka'rta Tor_," a raspy female said over the intercom. "One sec... all right, _Ka'rta Tor_, you have clearance to land. My, isn't it our famous but wayward _Mando'ade_, Kestra Hett."

"Well, I didn't know that anyone knew my name here." Kestra said with a laugh.

"Everyone knows your name, especially from the _Mando'ade_ that you team up with on occasion." the GC officer said.

"As longs as its good things then." Kestra said, cracking a smile.

"Oh, some of them are." the GC officer said.

"I'm taking her down, GC." Kestra said laughing.

"Affirmative, _Ka'rta Tor_," the GC officer said, instantly back to business. "Welcome back."

"Thanks, it's good to be back." Kestra said, she never realized that the _Ka'rta Tor_ was that well known. _Kote Darasuum_ was rarely used by Kestra; in fact the only time she uses it is when she is having the _Ka'rta Tor_ fixed.

_The _Kote Darasuum_ is a good ship but she has a lot of problems…I might have to give her an early retirement._

They swooped low over the city and headed for a medium-sized air control tower near what was obviously a spaceport, near the edge of the city. Ships of every kind were heading in and out of the area, clogging the airways nearby; there was even a huge boxy capital ship hovering a few thousand feet above the tower.

"So this is Mandalore, eh?" Kryssa said looking out the viewport.

"Yeah, this is where I was born." Kestra said. Kryssa looked at her as though silently asking her why she didn't wear the _beskar'gam_ like the others, Kestra just shrugged her shoulders. Kestra has chosen the path she will walk and she didn't want to give the _Mando'ades_ a bad reputation…though outsiders think they are savages anyways.

Ge'tal sighs and said, smiling "It's good to be back at _Manda'yaim_."

Kestra set the ship down in an empty docking area, bay 320, and killed the power to the ship's drives.

"Too bad it isn't on better circumstances." Kestra said as she got out of the pilot seat.

"Hey, at least it made you come here, _vod'ika_." Ge'tal said smiling charmingly as her and Kestra ignored him...as always.

Vhetin and Jay had gone ahead while she had waited for Ge'tal to fly the _Ka'rta Tor_ to Concordia though before they could even start their mission they had to make a quick stop to Concord Dawn and drop _Kote Darasuum_ at Qatai's dead husband's family home, they had promised that _Kote Darasuum_ will not be melted into scraps since their daughter-in-law had used the ship. Kestra walked into the loading bay and said to the three droids, "You three stay here and watch the ship."

Kestra pushed the button and the ramp lowered and she and her three companions walked down.

"Let's go to the _Oyu'baat_. Hopefully Vhetin had gathered all the _vode_ there."

They left the docking bay and emerged into the larger spaceport. Though Kestra was able to pick out a few different species - a Twi'lek here, a Nikto there, even a bulky Gamorrean – the majority of the patrons were humans, dressed in everything from simple farming robes to full-body combat armor. Of those who wore armor, Kestra saw a bewildering array of colors and color schemes. She saw both polished and dull variations of reds, blues, silvers, golds, and hundreds of other colors.

_They are all my _vod'ika_._

Kestra and her small group ignored the shops and luckily for them there wasn't very much traffic out so they had reached their destination on record time. Kestra headed to a fairly well-kept collection of interconnected buildings with rounded tops. A long rectangular window stretched along one side of the center building and a sign sported the same angular Mandalorian runes she'd seen all over the city and beneath the runes in Basic was: UNIVERSE TAPCAF. NO STRILLS INSIDE – BARTER ACCEPTED.

Jax _twrr_ed when he saw that sign and looked up at her to which Kestra laughed and said, "It doesn't mean you, _cyar'ika_."

Jax made a light _twrr_ing sound as Kestra opened the door. The cantina/motel was as busy as ever. She could hear the talking, laughing, even arguing from outside across the street; there was some kind of loud music playing over the speakers. She saw the barkeep, was cleaning a dinged and dented metal drink mug. He was wearing a long cook's apron, smeared with gravy and other stains that looked mysteriously like blood; Kestra hoped that it was animal blood. He had long gray hair that hung to his shoulders and a thin, serious face.

Kestra smiled and said, "Aramis! You handsome _Mando'ade_ you! How have you been?!"

The bartender looked up, staring around at his surroundings. When his gaze fell on Kestra, he relaxed and nodded in greeting.

Kestra fought her way to the bar. Once there, she put her hands on the countertop and said, "You're as handsome as ever! You look like you haven't aged a day!"

The bartender set down the mug and said, "Flattery won't get you anywhere, _Kes'ika_. Not when you didn't even tell me good-bye."

"Aw, c'mon Aramis. A lot of things happened that day and I had to get going while the going was good," Kestra said leaning against the bar. "Besides, I came back so you should cut me some slack."

Kestra flashed him the smile that had first warmed the barkeeper up to her. Aramis and her _Ba'vodu_ knew each other and Tra'kad Verd had taken Kestra to visit Aramis when she was four years old so Aramis was like her second _Ba'vodu_.

Aramis grunted and said, "Fine but once whatever caused you to come back is done I will give you an hour scolding."

"Le sigh…fine, I can deal with that…you drive a hard bargain, Aramis." Kestra teased smiling.

"As much as I like talking to such an attractive and younger woman, your audience is here waiting for you." Aramis said, jerking his thumb to the back of the bar.

"Yeah, can you just pretend I didn't come here and I'll just go my merry way?"

"Get your _shebs_ over the, _ad'ika_." came the response that she was dreading.

"I thought you were going to say that, Aramis…you _aruetii_ what did I ever do to you? In fact don't answer that, I know what you're going to say." Kestra said jokingly. She turned and headed back to where her small group was and motioned for them to follow her. She saw Vhetin first before she saw the others.

"Vhetin!"

Vhetin turned and saw Kestra waving at him; she quickly made her way to them and said, "Fine place to pick for this meeting, Vhetin!"

"Hey, you wanted a place where no Imperials went into." Vhetin said.

"They have to be a compete _dinii_ to want to come in here." Kestra said Kestra sensed Kryssa's interest and anticipation…so she did want to meet her father. Kestra saw Tarron Matele and throw her arms around him, laughing.

"It's nice to see you, Tarron!" Kestra said laughing.

"I was wondering when you'll come back to us." Tarron said smiling.

"Yeah, well I was awfully busy with my bounties, you know." Kestra said chuckling. She heard a grumble and looked down; Mird was looking up at her and wagging his tail. Kestra crouched down and said, "Hey, Mird it's great to see you again!"

Kestra rubbed his head and Jax came up and rubbed his head against Mird's neck, _twrr_ing. "Looks like Jax missed you as well, _Mird'ika_." Kestra said laughing as Mird licked her cheek.

Kestra stood up and finally noticed Corey Black standing next to Vhetin and said as she pulled him into a hug, "Hello, _vod'ika_ you look as handsome as ever!"

Kestra knew Corey since she was little; she met him when she was spending the night at Kyrimorut when she was four and she had taken a shine to the older man. Corey wore a plain brown travelling cloak over his _beskar'gam_, which sort of reminded her of a Jedi cloak.

"It's nice to see you, _ad'ika_." Corey said as she released him.

"Just wait until you hear what I have say then say that, _vod'ika_." Kestra laughs. Kal stood up and walked over to her and pulled her into hug. Over his shoulder she noticed that Venku was staring at her in shock and awe.

"Oh, _ad'ika_…we missed you so much. We thought you were dead until word from a _Mando'ade_ that had met you came back and told us that you were alive and making a living as a bounty hunter." Kal said as he rocked her back and forth, Kestra didn't know how long he was going to hold her.

"I missed you too, _Kal'buir_ but I have a surprise for you," Kestra said pulling away and grabbing Kryssa's wrist and pulling her in front of her. "This is Kryssa, you're long lost granddaughter…she's Jaing's and Parell's kid. The other Nulls, expect for Ordo, have daughters as well and I don't need to tell you that their mothers are the other Handmaidens, right?"

Kestra felt Kryssa tense as Kal looked at her and said, "Are you really?"

"Yes, I am sorry that our mothers kept it a secret but they wanted to make sure that Kestra will have new handmaidens if anything ever happened to them and didn't want Palpatine to know about us. Though Ryllis father is the ARC Trooper called Maze." Kryssa said in a rush. Kestra had a feeling that she had been keeping all that inside her because she wanted a family. Kestra sensed that Maze actually having a relationship with Ranek was very surprising to everyone.

Kal didn't say anything expect to bring Kryssa into a hug saying, "_Shab_, you look so much like your mother that it caught me off guard for a second there."

Jaing stood up slowly and walked over to Kal, who released her and stepped back. Jaing had an expression on his face that Kestra didn't think she would ever see on his face: sadness and pain. Without saying anything, Jaing took his daughter into his arms and hugged her, the fact that she was kept a secret from him no longer mattered all that mattered was that the Skiratas had new members.

Mereel looks at Kestra and asked, "Where's our kids?"

"The last time I commed them they were on Faber but they're on Coruscant now." Kryssa said as she pulled away from her father.

"Oh? Why?" Kestra asked after finishing her rounds of giving the rest of her family hugs. They might not be related to her by blood but she still considered them as her family.

"Ryllis was too suspicious about the Death Stalkers so she decided to go to Coruscant to find some answers." Kryssa explained.

Kestra had a bad feeling about that and said, "Is she like her mother?"

Kryssa's silence was the answer that she was dreading.

"Great…now Palpatine has to worry about a new psychopathic Handmaiden…though I don't feel any pity to that _chakaar_." Kestra said as she smirked.

"Death Stalkers?" Gotab asked.

"Yeah, you might wanna sit down and order some more _ne'tra gal_ for this because it's going to take a while." Kestra warned and began to tell them what they had learned. When she was finally finished, everyone sat in stun silence but she can sense what they were feeling: shock, worry and anger.

"So Palps planning to use us as an example, _ad'ika_?" Kal asked.

"Yeah." Kestra said then they heard a chirp of a comlink and Kryssa raised her right gauntlet up to her lips, pushing a button and said, "What is it, Shae?"

They heard a crackle and a voice, saying "We just found out something very interesting, Kryssa."

"What?" Kryssa asked.

"Well, we found the Doctor, you know the one that your mothers were after, and kidnapped him and took him offworld. Don't worry, Slimy Palps won't realize that he's gone and by then it will be too late since he'll be dead. Anyways, after some…_persuasion_…we got him to tell us everything and it's a major twist that no one was expecting." Shae said, pausing for a minute when a muffled scream broke her conversation.

"Sorry, that's the Doctor and Ryllis isn't exactly being gentle towards him. But back to what I was going to tell you, the Death Stalkers were used as guinea pigs." Shae said as another scream could be heard and Shae saying to Ryllis, "Was that really necessary, Ryllis?"

"It's his fault that our mothers are dead." came the cold reply and some whimpering.

"Yeah, but did you really have to use Force fear on him?"

"Don't worry he will die before he loses his sanity." was Ryllis's cold reply.

"Yeah…okay, moving on. They're basically used as guinea pigs for two reasons: the first reason is to see if our 'Hive mind' is strong enough that we can remember something that had happened centuries ago and the second is to see just how powerful we are in the Force to see if this new thing that they are making will work on us." Shae said it was silent now on her side which meant that she had moved out of the room.

"So you're telling me that the Handmaidens and my family were killed just for the Empire to test put their new toy?" Kestra asked her tone was low and cold. Corey, Gotab, Venku and Kryssa felt her anger in the Force, it came in as ice cold and they couldn't stop the shudder that came down their spines.

Shae paused as though she too can sense it from wherever she is at and said, "Basically, yeah they did. Originally they were going to use Faber as an example but once they learned that we have a very strong 'Hive Mind' so they decided that Mandalore was going to be there new example. We just learned that the new toy is a type of collar that had different settings for different force-sensitives. Oh, the Royal family was also used as guinea pigs for the first test of Force collar."

Kestra forces her anger down and asked, "What did you mean by that we remember something that happened centuries ago?"

Shae makes a humming sound and said, "Ne'tra Verd, your ancestor, was the first to come across the Death Stalkers and centuries later we as a whole still remember them."

"But I couldn't sense the one that first attacked me." Kestra said.

"Uh, yeah you did. You got a bad feeling as soon as you were told about what was happening on Concordia right?" Shae said making that humming sound again.

"Yeah but I always get bad feelings about some of my missions." Kestra said not understanding and she thinks that the humming that Shae makes is her way of patience.

Shae hums again and said, "Let me say it like this then: when we 'remember' a Death Stalker the feeling that we get is like we were just doused in ice cold water."

Kestra blinks as she remembers the feeling and realizes that Shae was right, when she first learned about this mission she felt like that she was just doused in ice cold water. She sat down heavily and put her head in her hands as she absorbed what she had just learned. Corey sensed her turmoil and moved to stand next her, placing his hand on her shoulder. Her shoulders were tensed; learning that her family and the handmaidens were killed in order for the Empire to test out something that can be used against force-sensitives was very shocking.

"Also the collar somewhat closes off the force-sensitive to the force and makes it easier for whoever places the collar on them to move them wherever." Shae continued as Kestra's silence was a sign that she understood and to continue.

"Has he said anything else?" Kryssa asked.

Shae paused then said, "No, we got what we can from him and Ryllis killed him."

Kestra straightens up with a sigh, she gently pats Corey's hand and stands up saying, "That's one lose end we couldn't afford to have let live."

"Our thoughts exactly, Kestra," Shae said a smile could be heard in her voice. "Ah, looks like we have to blow this joint, literally and figuratively." And then her side of the comm closed off leaving them in silence.

Kryssa looks at Kestra and said, "I'll head back to the ship and stay there until everything is ready, Kestra."

Kryssa leaves and Kestra watches her leave, Shuk'orok growls. "She'll be fine."

Kestra went to sit down next to Walon and Mird jumped onto the couch next to her and placed his head on her lap and drooled all over her lap.

"Thanks for that Mird, you drool heap." Kestra said as she took the towel that Walon had and started to wipe off the drool.

"So what do we do?" Corey asked.

Kestra leaned back and crossed her arms saying, "I need to tell Fenn what I just told you so until I do stay in touch."

Kestra stood up and left the bar with Shuk'orok and Ge'tal behind her outside she turns and says, "You two stay here. I know where Fenn is and it's better if I go solo."

"Be careful, okay?" Ge'tal said.

Kestra smiled and said, "I'm always careful."

She turns and heads down the street, Ge'tal watched her leave before turning and saying, "Let's go back inside, Shuk'orok."

They went back inside and went to where they had left her family. Vhetin was the first to notice them.

"Why are you two here?" Vhetin asked which caused everyone else to look at them.

"She went to tell him by herself."

Tarron sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, saying "Well, that was certainly fun to hear. Is there anyone else out there that wants us dead?"

Jaing laughs and said, "Well, I can certainly name a few people who want to kill _me_."

Everyone laughs at that. Mereel leans over and said, "And some of them are women."

Jaing nudges Mereel with his elbow and said, "This from the guy with some husbands after his _shebs_?"

Everyone laughed even harder at that. Gotab leaned over forward banging his fist on the table, saying "_Osi'kyr_! Didn't I warn you about that woman?"

Mereel shrugged and said, "What can I say? I am extremely popular with the ladies."

Kestra was standing at attention and hooking her gauntleted arms behind her back in front of Fenn, she had just finished telling him what she had just finished telling the _vode_ and well as what she had just learned.

"What are you going to do about, _Kes'ika_?" Fenn asked running his hand through his blond curls.

Kestra breathes heavily and said, "I'm going to take it somewhere else so it will be on _my_ terms, not theirs."

"How?" Fenn asked.

Kestra smirked and said, "There's a planet just outside the Mandalore sector, its name has been lost in history but it's known as the Black Planet. I hope you know its history, _Mand'alor_."

"I heard some rumors about it but it's always about the Faberians." Fenn said taking a sip out of the cup of _ne'tra gal_ in front of him.

"Let's just say that the Black Planet was used at an example for everyone else that was stupid enough to even think about trying to bring Faber to its knees." Kestra said as she turns around and walks out of the room. Kestra commed Ge'tal and he answered with a sarcastic comment.

"Yes, O Lord and Master?"

"Head to the Verd _vheh'yaim_ take the others with you…no questions, do as I say and go." Kestra said her voice short and clipped and without waiting for his response, she turned off the comm.

Ge'tal sighs and said, "That was Kestra and she says for everyone to go to the Verd _vheh'yaim_, she didn't say why but her voice broke for no arguing and she closed the comm before I could even say anything."

Shuk'orok turned with a growl and walked out of the bar. The crowd parted to let him through and everyone scrambled to follow him. They got into whatever vehicles that they came in and with Shuk'orok's help, manage to get to the Verd _vheh'yaim_ without getting lost. Vhetin noticed eighteen graves near the forest's edge and two of the where small, he stared at them for a while before looking away from the somber view.

Venku climbed off his speeder bike and looked around, saying "This place certainly brings back memories."

Kal smiled sadly and said, "_Aay'han_."

They began to head to the vheh'yaim but were met outside by an extremely agitated Jax who immediately went to Vhetin and began to rub against him, _twrr_ing.

Jay looked at him and leaned down, rubbing his hunches saying, "What's wrong with him?"

The force-sensitive _Mando'ades_ were looking towards the _vheh'yaim_, they can sense Kestra's pain, sadness, anger and hatred…and something else, something that they couldn't identify. Kestra appears in the doorway and crossed her arms over her chest; she had no expression on her face expect for the fact that her jaw muscle would twitch every now and then.

Gotab walks over and clasps her shoulders and said, "Are you okay?"

Kestra stares at him but he can tell that she wasn't really seeing him then she blinked and said, "Yeah, just having some visions."

"Of what?" Gotab asked.

Kestra titled her head to one side and gave him a narrowed eye look; it took him a while to figure out that she was giving him the same look that Ranek would have given someone if she was debating about telling people what she had seen. Finally she said, "They were alive but wounded when they were taken from here that night."

Then she shrugged off his hold and walked over to Jax and curled her index finer towards him, Jax quickly obeyed the unspoken command and nudged her hand, _twrr_ing. Kestra rubbed between his ears and her mood calmed down a little.

"Fenn wants me to gather a small group of _Mando'ade_ to fight the Death Stalkers." Kestra said as she stands up and motions for them to follow her inside. Inside the _vheh'yaim_ didn't look like it had been ransacked at all.

_She must have been fixing it while she was waiting for us._

Venku looked at Kestra then glanced away; he couldn't help but notice that Ge'tal was still looking at her.

"I'm guessing that the group you're talking about is us?" Corey asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kestra smiled and said, "Yes, since you gentlemen…and lady…are the only ones that are qualified for this mission…expect the old guys."

"Hey, I'm not that old, _ad'ika_." Kal said, indignantly.

"Actually I meant your sons, _Kal'buir_." Kestra said with a smirk.

Mereel looked at her and said, "We're not that old."

"Then what's with the gray hair?" Kestra asked.

Tarron laughed then turning serious asked, "So is this battle being held here?"

Kestra sobered and said, "No, we're going to take it to the Black Planet. I had allowed Palpatine to call the shots in my life but now it's my turn."

Their eyes widen at the mention of the Black Planet, the planet was used as a warning for those foolish enough to try to bring Faber to its knees. No one knew that exact history of that planet before the Faberians destroyed all life on it.

"I have a question." Tarron said.

"And I have the answer." Kestra said by the tone of her voice she knew what he was going to ask her.

"Is that ship still operational?" Tarron asked.

Kestra smiled sadly and said, "Yes, it's waiting for me to give it a command."

Corey looked at her and said, "What do you mean?"

"The _Harvester_ is a sentient ship and obeys only the commands of the Regnant Empress." Kestra said smiling sadly.

Everyone just stared at her in shock; they already knew that she was the Regnant Empress of Faber but that they had never knew that they had built a sentient ship.

Walon was the first to overcome his shock and said, "Why can't you call it and destroy the Death Stalkers?"

Kestra stared at him and said, "Because if I did that then it will reveal that the Faberian Regnant Empress had been in hiding in Mandalore and Palpatine would send an entire fleet to come get me and kill those who stand in his way."

"So you thought of it already?" Walon asked.

"Thought about it and discarded it already," Kestra said. "The Verd _vheh'yaim_ will be our base of operations during this mission. Also those of you that don't have a place to stay or if their place is far away then you can stay here until it's over."

"Are you sure about this, _Kes'ika_?" Ordo asked he didn't have to be force-sensitive to know that Kestra was going to have problems staying here.

Kestra smiled and said, "We have to face the ghosts of out pasts sooner or later, Ordo. And if I die because of my past then I want to be buried with my guns on."

Unlike Mandalorians, Faberians were buried and took their weapons with them to the afterlife, no one knew why they did that since Faberians never fully explain their religion or cultural to outsiders.

_Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la._

"There's enough room for those who are staying so pick one and it's yours until this is over." Kestra said as she heads to her old room. It was now time to rest before they start to prepare for the coming battle.

_This is the start of when I take control of my _life_ again._


	8. Chapter 8

Page | **3**

Ch.8

Kestra was holding her crimson bladed lightsaber in a hold that was vertical with both palms, either on the right of her body that easily told him that she was a practitioner of Form IV: Ataru. Vhetin was in front of her, his lightsaber pike was activated. Both combatants were standing in the center of a handmade fighting ring, one that Vhetin had sparred with Ranek with what seemed like centuries ago. Last night while everyone was asleep, Vhetin has visited the graves of the six women that had trained him in Teräs Käsi though mainly it was Ranek that had training him. It was easy to find which grave belonged to whom because their graves bore their names. It was revealed last night that Kestra had no idea who brought back the bodies of the handmaidens or who had buried them in the private graveyard but she had said that once this is all done then Kryssa would take the bodies back to Faber.

It was Gotab's idea that they should spar in order to keep their lightsaber combat on peak condition, though Vhetin had a sneaky suspicion that he really wanted to see how Kestra fought against someone with a lightsaber since the handmaidens kept her training a secret from outsiders and only allowed her uncle to train Kestra as well, though Gotab had told him that it was likely that Kestra's aunt, Jira had trained her. Vhetin only met the Master of the Prophets only once or twice but from what he got from how people treated her, she was very well liked and respected and was a master at Form IV and according to Kal, Walon had a soft spot for the woman. From what Gotab had told him about the fourth form of lightsaber combat. It was an aggressive style; Form IV was fast-paced and effective against single opponents, though weaker in prolonged combat and confined spaces. Ataru was characterized by Force-assisted acrobatics, both for attack and defense, and fast, powerful strikes. And was the favored style of the Faberian Jedi sect known as the Prophets.

The only warning he got was of Kestra bending her knees and then she was on him like Hawk-bat on a granite slug with acrobatic moves that would have made even a Terrelian jango jumper jealous. Vhetin answered her aggressive style with his own aggressive style. He utilizes his own very aggressive combat form that is a mix of Form II: Makashi and Form V: Djem So, as well as a smattering of converted Teräs Käsi moves. He had to recreate his own form due to his utilization of the lightsaber pike, which was not the conventional Jedi or Sith weapon.

And like in her fight with the Death Stalkers, Kestra fought in a fury of acrobatic moves but Vhetin managed to block every blow. After what seemed like hours, Gotab blew the whistle and both combatants pulled away from each other, not even breathing heavily.

Gotab and the others were leaning against the fence watching the fight Jax was lying at Corey's feet, his tail thumping every once few minutes. The grounds around the Verd _vheh'yaim_ was used as a docking bay for the small group's ships, for those that don't have permanent homes or is staying somewhere else but are too far away; they had brought their ships here last night since they had all decided to stay here.

"_Kes'ika_, you're not using the Force...why?" Gotab asked.

Kestra gave him an odd look and said, "Because it's not fair for our opponent that isn't a force-sensitive besides if we were to cut off our connection to the Force we would still have impressive physical abilities that make us natural athletes, like the Terrelian jango jumpers."

Her words reminded him of what Ranek had told him when she had first started training him. And even know he can still hear her voice as clear as it was when she was still alive.

_Ranek stood over Vhetin, she wore a black ribbed tank top, front-zip black trousers which sport a non-covered zipper at the front and strapped pockets at the back and boots that can spike out blades at the heel, and he had seen those deadly spikes in action when she sparred alone._

"_Did I break your jaw, Vhetin?" Ranek asked her tone cold and emotionless; her face was just as cold and emotionless. It was hard to picture this woman capable of any other emotion then her cold anger but he had seen her with the two young boys that he had never been introduced to yet._

_Vhetin sat up and wiped the blood that was sliding down his chin from a cut that was inside his mouth and said, "You're using the Force so how can I ever beat you, master?"_

_Ranek smiled now, though a little, and said, "Oh? Is that what you think? I'll let you in a little secret, Vhetin: I am not using the Force in any of my sparring sessions with you nor when I am in actual combat."_

_Vhetin looked at her and asked, "Why?"_

"_Because it's not fair for our opponent that isn't a force-sensitive and besides if we were to cut off our connection to the Force we would still have impressive physical abilities that make us natural athletes, like the Terrelian jango jumpers." Ranek said as she held out a hand to help him up, Vhetin stared at it for a few minutes before clasping her forearm and allowed her to help him stand up._

"_All Faberians are the same as me…I mean, we all share the same beliefs and we ingrain those beliefs of fair combat into our students." Ranek said showing a rare side of her personality. Ranek was probably the tightest lip of all the Handmaidens; she rarely ever does talk to anyone about the beliefs of her people. According to what Saricia had told him since she was telling him more things that she normally will tell anyone is a sign that Ranek's badly damaged mental state was slowly beginning to heal and all thanks to the children that she has been around as well as caring of and thanks to Vhetin who was the, and only, first male outsider that Ranek had offered to train before._

_Vhetin cocked his head and said, "Like what you're doing with me?"_

_Ranek actually chuckled at that and ruffled his hair, saying "Yes but it's up to you if you want to follow my teachings or not, Vhetin."_

_Ranek got into a Teräs Käsi fighting stance and said, "Ready for round 2, Vhetin?"_

"Hey, Vhetin! You didn't fall asleep with your eyes open and on your feet, did you?" Kestra asked waving her hand over his eyes.

"Sorry I was just thinking." Vhetin said, shacking himself out of the memory.

"Well, don't think too hard or else your brain will fry since it's not used to all that activity." Kestra said jokingly.

Vhetin lightly chuckled at that and brought his lightsaber pike up and said, "Ready for round 2, Kestra?"

Kestra lunged at him and bought her lightsaber down in a slash that would have cleaved him in two if he hadn't blocked it. Kryssa had left during the early morning saying that she had other things, and better things, to do. Kestra didn't seem too worried about her and when questioned all she said was that if she was anything like her mother than she and the other handmaidens will be fine without her babysitting them. And Vhetin would have to agree with her since he still has some scars that Ranek had given him during his time training with her.


	9. Chapter 9

Page | **5**

Ch.9

_Black Planet, Outside the Mandalore system._

_Ka'rta Tor_ had jumped out of hyperspace above the Black Planet; Ge'tal looked over Kestra's shoulder and whistled. "Man, you Faberians certainty did a number on this planet." Ge'tal said. Kestra looks at him and said, "That's the price people pay when they get overconfident."

Ge'tal looked at her; she had looked away so that she can concentrate on flying. Kestra was still in her gray flight suit with padding on her torso and armor on her arms and legs; she no longer wears her Faberian armor for reasons unknown to anyone else but herself. Her braid was longer than when he had first meet her and she lost the remaining baby fat that she had, she was becoming the woman that every man would want though Prince Xizor was already on that list and so was Ge'tal but unlike Xizor or any other man that would come into her life, he knew that she already had her eye on someone. And that was Venku Skirata, her childhood friend but she didn't know if he felt the same way for her and if Ge'tal was honest with himself, he hoped that the feelings are not mutual.

Kestra turned her head slowly to look at him and said, "Can you not stare at me? It's very uncomfortable."

"Sorry, Captain." Ge'tal said looking away, Kestra stared at him for a few minutes then she looked away. Around them, the rest of their group jumped out of hyperspace. She pressed the comm button and said, "Alright, folks…drop the mines and land on the planet." They did what she said without any comment, they had already gone through their plan of attack back on Mandalore_._

_Kestra was in the dining area with everyone, some were in beskar'gam and others were in civvies. They were all around the table with a hologram on the table; it was projecting an image of the Black Planet. Kestra was giving the debriefing since she knew more about the planet and these creatures then they did._

"_Okay, Black Planet is located just outside the Mandalore system and the Imps have to pass it on their way to Mandalore so here is what we are going to do," Kestra said pointing at the planet. "As soon as we leave hyperspace, we are going to leave mines around the planet, outside its gravity pull so they don't ruin our day."_

_She pauses for a few minutes and continues. "Then we will land on the Black Planet and set up positions for attack, the air on the Black Planet is breathable so don't worry about gas masks…how you want to go about what groups you should be in up to you since the one thing that we should not do fight them alone, they are simple too dangerous to fight alone." Kestra pauses again and adds. "While we are waiting for the Destroyer to arrive, we will be setting up traps and one bomb that I will be working on since it is of Faberian origin…that is all, I advise you all to get some sleep and prepare for tomorrow. If there are any changes to the plan then I will tell you." _

Surprisingly no one has any questions during that meeting but Ge'tal knew that they trusted that Kestra knew what she was doing and that she would lead them to victory. He looks at her again; she was concentrating on flying through the mines as the others flow ahead, next to and behind her. Ge'tal that she was acting odd since she had woken up, he didn't know what had caused her to act like that but he trusted her enough that whatever was bothering her that she would tell him.

The comm crackled and Vhetin's voice came through, "We're done, Kestra." Kestra twitched as she was in one of her trances and pressed the button, saying, "Okay, follow me." She pulled down the yoke and flew the freighter down to the surface of the Black Planet. Kestra lead them to a flat boulder that was large enough to hold a Super Star Destroyer, she landed and turned off the engine. "Let's go…we got a lot of work to do." Kestra said as she stood up and walked out of the cockpit with Ge'tal and Shuk'orok behind her, Jax was at her heels twrring in pleasure.

The _Ka'rta Tor_'s ramp lowered, hitting the rock with a loud thud. Jax trotted down the ramp in front of Kestra, which was surprising since he was always behind Kestra. She looks at the others as they walked towards her and said, "Set up the traps while I set up the bomb." Kestra turns and walks away, Jax following after her.

Kestra picks up a crate and takes it to the tallest rock; she places the crate down and opens it. She reaches into crate and pulls out a large oval shaped device, placing it down on the ground. Kestra kneels down in front of it and started to key in the code; after it was done she stood up and looked up at the sky. _We will have a major fight on our hands soon_, Kestra thought.

It was the sound of explosion that alerted Kestra and her small group that the Star Destroyer had slipped into their first trap. "Get ready..." Kestra said calmly as she climbed up a rock to perch on though hidden from the Death Stalkers and all around her she can see the rest of her team climbing up onto rocks as well. The plan is to have the crash kill the majority of the Death Stalkers while she and her team pick off the survivors which won't be easy given the fact that these creatures are tough. Jax was lying down next to her, his orange eyes fixed on the sky above them his ears swerving around to pick up the sounds that no one human can hear.

There was a loud roar, Kestra looked up and saw the Star Destroyer breaking through the planet's astrosphere she could see a crimson color starting to appear around the nose of the Destroyer and she can also see pieces of the warship being ripped off it. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jax still up onto his hunches his eyes focusing on the warship and his tail wrapped around his paws the tip twitched every now and again but other than that he was still. With a loud crash the Destroyer crashed, causing small to large explosions throughout the large ship.

Kestra shifted into a better sitting position, bringing up her sniper rifle and aiming it at the warship. Her movement caused Jax to get into a crouched position, his long whip-like tail waving back and forth above the ground. He whimpered softly and deep in his throat, his whole body quivering just waiting for the command from her to hunt and kill.

She waited until the Death Stalkers swarmed out of the burning ship before whispering, "Kill." Jax lets out a high pitched squeal and bolted from his position on the rock, his hand-like paws allowing him to run easily and quickly over the rocky landscape and his long whip-like tail allowed him make fast turns and to keep his balance as he ran.

Kestra aimed her rifle at a Stalker and pulled the trigger just as Jax leaped onto another Stalker and the others came out of hiding, joining in on the fight. Jax went to the throat of the Stalker, his bone crashing jaws ended the life of the creature quickly and he released and attacked another as his master brought down another one. She didn't how many were alive but she hoped that if she and her friends were to die than the bombs that she had place here would finish off the remaining Stalkers off…

Surprisingly the fight didn't last that, apparently the bombs that they had placed above the planet worked a little too well and had killed off almost all the creatures so all they had to do was clean up the survivors which wasn't that many.

"Well, I was expecting a much longer fight and I must say I am slightly disappointed." Ge'tal said as he walked up to Kestra who was sitting on a rock, petting Jax who had laid his head on her lap. His eyes were closed and he was making a _twrr_ing sound, the tip of his tail twitching.

Kestra looks at Ge'tal, not pausing in her petting and said, "Most people who view that as a good thing…I do, the Death Stalkers had almost wiped my race out but we were able to drag ourselves from extinction and drive the monsters off our planet." Her voice was low when she said it, something that wasn't like her at all. Ge'tal raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior but didn't say anything.

She stands up causing Jax to pull his head away and stand up as well, though the animal stretched and yawned massively, revealing his dagger like teeth and long canine teeth. He stands up, rubbing against his master's leg, making a humming like sound. "Come on…let's go back to Mandalore so Fenn can relax." Kestra said walking towards her ship, Jax trailing behind her. Shuk'orok was already there and prepping the freighter for takeoff. The others had left but not before telling Kestra to meet them at the cantina for drinks which she promised to go.

Vhetin walks up to Ge'tal and whispered, "What's wrong with Kestra?" Ge'tal blinked in surprise, he had thought Vhetin had left with the rest but apparently he too noticed Kestra's odd behavior. "No idea, she's been like that since we got here and it's starting to worry me but I know that she won't tell us what's wrong." Ge'tal whispered back, keeping his eyes on Kestra.

"Yeah, I'm worried about her." Vhetin said with a heavy sigh which sounded raspy because of the speakers. Ge'tal smiled and held out his hand towards Vhetin, saying, "Don't worry, Vhetin. I'll watch over her for you."

Vhetin clasps Ge'tal's forearm with his hand and said, "I'll hold you to that and if anything happens to her I will hurt you."

Ge'tal laughs at that and smiles, he was used to being threatened by the people that cared for Kestra so he wasn't offended or worried about it. "I will, I promise you that." The two men shook once and then parted, going to their ships. Ge'tal walked up the ramp and as he walked to the cockpit the ramp slide up.

"What did he want?" Kestra asked when he walked into the cockpit, her shapely dark brown eyebrow arched in curiosity. "Ah, he was just wondering if you were okay." Ge'tal said with a smile. She looks at him for a few minutes in silence before looked away with a mumbled, "I am fine." Kestra grabs the steering yokes and pulled up. The old freighter responded easily to her touch and lifted up and out of Black Planet atmosphere; she began punching in the coordinates for Mandalore. When the light turned green, she pulled the lever back and watched as the stars turned into white lines as the freighter jumped into hyperspace.

_Oyu'baat_, Keldabe, Mandalore

The _Oyu'baat_ was even more crowded than usual; mainly to celebrate life and Ge'tal couldn't blame them since they were almost completely killed off by creatures that were sent by the Emperor. Kestra was still with Fenn, reporting to him what had happened and why they were back so quickly.

He heard a beep and reached towards his belt, pulling off his comlink and turning it on. "Kestra! Are you done with Fenn?" Ge'tal asked, yelling to be heard over the noise.

"Yeah, I am heading there even as we speak. I thought Fenn wouldn't let me leave until tomorrow morning." She said with a sigh that sounded raspy because of the static. He laughs at that and said, "He probably doesn't get that many pretty ladies that visit him."

Kestra scoffs and said, "Yeah, right…Fenn is a very good loo-" And suddenly, her end went dead which was followed by a loud bomb. Ge'tal eyes widen, a bad feeling going through him as he runs towards the door, Aramis and the rest close at his heels.

"KESTRA!" Ge'tal yelled about to run towards the wreckage but Aramis stopped him. "It's too later, Ge'tal! She's dead! There's no way she could have saved that!" The bartender said, his voice thick with grief and that's when Ge'tal's knees went knee, and he dropped to his knees overcome with grief and horror.

Vhetin walked up behind him and even though Ge'tal couldn't see his face, he knew that the other man was looking at the wreckage. Vhetin didn't say anything but Ge'tal knew that he was feeling the same thing as everyone else. Venku was holding Kal who was crying and the young man was struggling not to cry as well while Tarron, Corey and Walon stared at the wreckage in horror.

Shuk'orok lets out a mournful roar and Jay went to stand next to the Wookiee, resting her arm around his waist to comfort the Wookiee who had lost the person he had sworn to protect.

"What the hell happened?" Tarron said finally finding his voice. One of the Mandalorians who was there before them turns and said, "It was a hit and I can bet my money on that is was from the Empire since word probably got back to them about what had happened."

Vhetin looked at the Mandalorian and said, "But they would have targeted us as well so why just Kestra?"

The Mandalorian shrugged and said, "Hey, I am just brainstorming here and do you really know Kestra?" And with that the mysterious Mandalorian walked off, and they pushed his words away not wanting to worry about them for now. They were going to focus on getting the body and burning her so she can join her family in the afterlife.

The Mandalorian headed towards the hangar bay, heading to an old XS stock light freighter that had the name The _Another Idiot's Array_ on the side of the freighter. The Mandalorian taps on the hull and steps back at the ramp loaded and he walked up it, the ramp closed behind him. He looked around and a voice said from behind him, "Did anyone follow you?" The Mandalorian spun around but he didn't go for his blaster instead he pulled off his helmet, revealing an attractive young woman with a tanned complexion. She had dark brown hair that was pulled back in a messy bun and she had almond shaped brown eyes. Her name was Shae Verd and she was current leader of the Verd clan.

"No, they are too focused on mourning your death, _ad'ika_." Shae said clipping her helmet to her belt and looking at her distant cousin.

Kestra Hett doesn't respond at first, her eyes scanning over the face of the woman who had helped her faked her death. "I owe you one, cousin." She finally said crossing her arms over her chest. Shae waved her words away with a casual wave of her hand and said, "Don't worry about it…we may be not related by blood but our ancestors were sisters and we, the Verd, had promised to ourselves to help our ancestor's sister."

Kestra smiled and said, "Thank you, Shae." Shae inclined her head towards her before she turns on her heel, putting her helmet back on and the ramp began to lower.

"Good luck, cousin. I hope your new life suits you better than your old life." Shae said before leaving, Kestra watched her leave in silence and the ramp slide back up. She turns and heads to the cockpit. She slips into the pilot seat and began to push buttons, the _Another Idiot's Array_ started up with a roar and Kestra grabs the steering yokes and pulled up. The old freighter responded easily to her touch and lifted up and out of Mandalore atmosphere; she began punching in the coordinates for Alderaan.

"You're at peace now, little one." Marrika said she was sitting next to her; in fact she's been with her since Shae was on board but Kestra is the only one who can see her. Kestra doesn't look at him as she rested her hand on the lever and waited for the light to turn on. "Yes...It's time for me to leave this life behind." She said. Marrika reached out and touched her cheek with her knuckles; while her ancestor's form was transparent it was actually solid to anyone who had her blood. "Mm…yes, your resolve is stronger than it ever has been before." She said pulling her hand away.

Kestra looks at her and said, "Even though I might never see the man that I love?" Marrika smiled in a motherly fashion, which made Kestra miss her own mother and said, "You will find a new man to love…one who won't be so easily drawn away and one who you will never question his love and loyalty." And with that she vanished leaving Kestra alone in the cockpit, frowning.

She sighed heavily and shook her head, turning back towards the console and punched the button to go into hyperspace, she watched as the stars streaked together as the freighter jumped into hyperspace.

Kestra leans back in the pilot seat, crossing her arms over her chest and resting her feet on an empty stop on the console. She closes her eyes and slips into a trance; she would stay in that trance until she gets to her destination.

Kestra Hett the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter was now dead and Kestra Vernius the Faberian Smuggler and Regnant Empress of the Faberian Empire was alive and would finally have her vengeance against the people who had taken everything from her.


End file.
